Rusape crafts US$ 5.9m budget
RUSAPE Town Council has proposed a US$5 850 000 budget for 2021, highlighting that the budget will be financed through tariffs and devolution funds.
The local authority has extended the consultative window to October 31 to allow residents and ratepayers to seriously analyse the anticipated tariff structure.
At the end of the consultative process that kicked off this Wednesday, the proposed budget will be converted into local currency using the prevailing bank rates determined by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe’s foreign currency auction system.
Council chairman, Councillor Lyton Sithole said Statutory Instrument (SI) 185 of 2020 allows local authorities and businesses to have dual prices – which gives residents an option to pay either in USD or local currency.
Councillor Sithole also urged residents and ratepayers to take the consultative process seriously.
He said council formed a 11-member budget committee, drawn from its registered stakeholders list, to assist with the budget formulation, before taking the proposed tariff structure for broader public consultations.
“The budget committee was formed on September 25 and has its origins in the public consultation culture of RTC, stemming from the 1982 circular from the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works, which demands that local authorities submit a certificate of consultation signed by the chairman and representatives of the residents,” said Councillor Sithole.
He said the final budget to be submitted for approval to the ministry should be a product of the consultative process and will have three separate sources of funding – namely the tariffs (USD$5.9m), devolution and Zinara allocations.
“Funding for devolution and Zinara are not yet known.
‘‘ They will only be known when the national budget is announced, meaning the final budget will be submitted around end of November when the national budget has been announced.
“It is against that background that council has extended the consultative window that was supposed to end on October 16 to October 31. We did this to allow our stakeholders adequate time to go through the budget and make informed input,” he said.
Council last used a USD denominated budget in 2019.
The proposal for water charges is US$0.40 per unit for high density areas and US$0.50 for medium density and low density areas; while commercial, industrial and institutional consumption charges range from US$2 to US$3 per unit.
The proposal for sewerage charges is US$3 for high density areas, US$$4 for medium density areas and US$6 for low density areas.
Refuse removal was proposed at US$4, US$5 and US$6 for high, medium and low density areas respectively.
Those in high density areas will fork out a monthly supplementary charge of US$3, while those in medium and low density areas are expected to pay a monthly development fee of US$4 and US$5 respectively.
A monthly fire levy of US$1 have been proposed for residential, US$3 (institutional), US$5 (commercial) and US$10 (industrial).
Street lighting in high density areas has been pegged at US$1, US$1.5 for medium density areas and US$2 for low density areas.
Health service fees at council clinics has been pegged at US$6 for adults and US$2 for children. Those with chronic conditions will part with US$1.
Maternity booking has been pegged at US$25.
The proposed cemetery charges for adults is US$20 and US$15 for children.
The capital expenditure projects for 2021 were proposed at US$4 826 650.08, with focus on acquisition of plant and equipment, upgrading water and sewer reticulation infrastructure, maintenance and surfacing of roads, provision of shelter, rehabilitation of derelict sporting and recreational facilities, street lighting, tower lights, construction of a stand-alone fire station and affordable health services, among others.