City owed billions in unpaid tariffs

R5bn outstanding; plans afoot to get tough on debtors

CAPETONIANS owe the City a mammoth R5 billion in outstanding rates and taxes while plans are afoot to get tougher on those who refuse to pay. There has also been a 3% increase in the City’s overall debt due to a billing system glitch which has been using the past 12 months consumptions to determine the average estimated readings for the relevant billing period.

Trevor Blake, the City’s director of revenue, said a system change has been requested for when a estimation occurs that the 12-months period be reduced to three months in order to utilise the latest consumption patterns.

“The total outstanding figures for rates and services owed to the City as at January 31 is R7.9bn, which includes the current amount due, but not yet payable. There has been an increase of R259 348 369 (3%) in our total debt for January in comparison to December 2017. The increase was as a result of an increase in the current debt for the amount of R778 006 724. One of the main reasons for this increase is due to the billing system logic (glitch),” Blake said.

Water and sewerage money owed to the City also made up the bulk of the debt.

“The bulk of our debt is under water and sewerage and R4.8bn is owed to us by residential users. A total of R3.2bn of that amount is owed by account holders with property values of R750 000 and below. The bulk of the water wasters are the indigent water users. We need to treat them first as water users, and then as indigent users,” he said.

Blake said the City was particularly targeting those that can pay, but refused to do so. “We have seen a growth in our debt and we need to tackle this,” he said.

The total amount of the arrears as at January was R5bn. he said.

“An analysis was completed for the total debt in arrears; a decrease of R603 721 274 was evident when compared to December 2017 due to a decrease in the 120 days and older debt, amounting to R705 127 424. Focus continues to be given on these accounts to enforce payment where

applicable or expedite the writeoff of the indigent debt in order to curb the ageing of debt,” he said.

In January, R91 562 878 was written off as bad debt, mostly for poor households.

Blake said the City would be recovering arrears amounts from electricity purchases.

This means those in arrears who buy electricity would pay a percentage of the amount spent deducted for outstanding amounts.

Residential users owe the City R6.3bn while business owe just over R1.3bn.

The total debt outstanding for all City staff, including permanent, temporary and Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) employees is R12 161 747.

The amount includes the current amount due, but not yet payable and represents an increase of R527 610 compared to December.

ANC councillor Fiona Abrahams said the City should beef up its water management devices as some residents were refusing to follow device measurements.

“Problems with the payment of debt stems from the faulty water meters. People are unhappy and will not pay,” she said.

High-risk areas for water meter installations include Belmont Park, Fisantekraal, Mfuleni, Eerste River, Retreat and Philippi.

Areas where City staff and contractors were assaulted for installing the devices included Bishop Lavis, Dunoon, Tafelsig and areas around Nyanga.