Tshwane mayor expects R450m revenue boost
The Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality has made no cuts to the budget it tabled for 2017-18 — in fact, the council is expecting its revenue to increase by R450.8m.
Tshwane mayor Solly Msimanga said during a council sitting on Thursday the metro’s operating expenditure would rise by R679.5m in order to tackle some of the shortfalls the city has on, for example, contractually obligated expenditure.
He said contracts to be honoured included spending of R200m that is needed for the lease and rental of the city’s fleet, as well as expenditure on leased buildings such as Tshwane House. The city was in the process of reviewing these contracts for operational efficiencies, Msimanga said.
He said the cost of bulk electricity purchases was estimated to rise by R123m in line with consumption patterns and increased losses on the sale of electricity. Additional grants for the bus subsidy and funding for houses would also contribute to expenditure.
Msimanga leads a coalition government that took over the running of the city from the ANC after the 2016 local government elections. When this happened the city had a deficit of about R2bn. But Msimanga made it clear during the tabling of the 2017-18 budget in 2017 that the budget, the first one submitted by the coalition-led government, would be fully funded.
Msimanga said the revenue growth was mainly due to increases in property rates, a rise in interest on investments, grant allocations and rollovers from other spheres of government, as well as collections of other revenue. At R344m, grant allocations and rollovers contributed the largest amount to the increased revenue.
Msimanga said he had made it clear in his inaugural address that his administration’s budget was pro-poor. He said he had answered the call by President Cyril Ramaphosa for the state to serve South Africans.
“I would like to assure the honourable president that the DA-led multiparty administration has already answered that call and we continue to work tirelessly to address the ills plaguing our communities, such as the scourge of drug abuse and crime,” he said.