News / Local
Bulawayo Council adopts the proposed $156m budget
12 Nov 2013 at 02:32hrs | Views
BULAWAYO city councillors yesterday adopted the proposed $156 million budget for 2014 that is anchored on domestic financing aimed at consolidating improved service delivery and attracting more investors to the city.
The budget was brought down by $13 million from this year's $169 million with charges for residents remaining unchanged.
Presenting the budget before councillors, the chairperson of the finance and development committee, Councillor James Sithole said the document was crafted in consideration of the negative economic environment characterised by higher levels of unemployment and failure by rate payers to service their bills.
Clr Sithole said council has come up with a five-year corporate strategy meant to improve the business environment in a bid to boost the city's economy.
"Council strives to protect and fulfil the rights and expectations of its ratepayers and communities. The strategy targets restoration of a robust infrastructural base while addressing the lack of significant, sustainable local authority financing and long term funding of council programmes," said Clr Sithole.
To counter the biting effects of the liquidity crunch, Clr Sithole said the local authority would scale up stakeholder engagement efforts to increase partnerships with the corporate sector, non-governmental organisations and citizens at large to contribute towards developing Bulawayo.
He said council looked forward to getting support from Central Government and that in the upcoming budget statement next month, the Ministry of Finance would consider the five percent mandatory allocation to councils provided for in the new constitution.
During the budget consultation meetings residents identified water, sewerage, health, housing, roads, education, public lighting and social services as priority areas.
Clr Sithole said there would be no increase in all service charges but noted that the 2014 revenue budget was reduced from this year's $123 million to $113,7 million while the capital budget was reduced from $45 million to $42,4 million.
He said despite economic challenges, council would continue giving five kilolitres free water per month to the less privileged in the community and that rates rebates for senior citizens above 70 years would remain.
Clr Sithole urged ratepayers to pay their bills on time in order to get adequate service delivery.
Commenting on the budget the councillors said the document captured in full the aspirations of the residents and called for collective stakeholder participation in financing development programmes.
They said the budget took into considerations the socio-economic challenges facing residents and urged the ratepayers to play their part in supporting council operations.
As part of efforts to lure investors into the city, council has promised to award incentives such as partial writing off of bills to companies, waiving rates for a given period and awarding 50 percent discount on rates clearance.
The budget was brought down by $13 million from this year's $169 million with charges for residents remaining unchanged.
Presenting the budget before councillors, the chairperson of the finance and development committee, Councillor James Sithole said the document was crafted in consideration of the negative economic environment characterised by higher levels of unemployment and failure by rate payers to service their bills.
Clr Sithole said council has come up with a five-year corporate strategy meant to improve the business environment in a bid to boost the city's economy.
"Council strives to protect and fulfil the rights and expectations of its ratepayers and communities. The strategy targets restoration of a robust infrastructural base while addressing the lack of significant, sustainable local authority financing and long term funding of council programmes," said Clr Sithole.
To counter the biting effects of the liquidity crunch, Clr Sithole said the local authority would scale up stakeholder engagement efforts to increase partnerships with the corporate sector, non-governmental organisations and citizens at large to contribute towards developing Bulawayo.
He said council looked forward to getting support from Central Government and that in the upcoming budget statement next month, the Ministry of Finance would consider the five percent mandatory allocation to councils provided for in the new constitution.
During the budget consultation meetings residents identified water, sewerage, health, housing, roads, education, public lighting and social services as priority areas.
Clr Sithole said there would be no increase in all service charges but noted that the 2014 revenue budget was reduced from this year's $123 million to $113,7 million while the capital budget was reduced from $45 million to $42,4 million.
He said despite economic challenges, council would continue giving five kilolitres free water per month to the less privileged in the community and that rates rebates for senior citizens above 70 years would remain.
Clr Sithole urged ratepayers to pay their bills on time in order to get adequate service delivery.
Commenting on the budget the councillors said the document captured in full the aspirations of the residents and called for collective stakeholder participation in financing development programmes.
They said the budget took into considerations the socio-economic challenges facing residents and urged the ratepayers to play their part in supporting council operations.
As part of efforts to lure investors into the city, council has promised to award incentives such as partial writing off of bills to companies, waiving rates for a given period and awarding 50 percent discount on rates clearance.
Source - chronicle
