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They also urged the cash strapped council to reduce salaries of some of its management staff to contain administration costs.
Speaking at the 2013 budget consultation meeting at the Small City Hall, the residents said the revival and upgrading of facilities such as community halls, swimming pools, beerhalls and other buildings owned by the council would go a long way in improving service delivery in the city.
“There are a lot of abandoned facilities in the city centre that could be used by the council to improve its revenue collection,” said a resident from Ward 25.
“We appreciate that the city council is experiencing financial challenges, but if the standards of these facilities are improved, more people will use them and increase revenue collection for the city council.”
Another resident from Ward One, Mr Abdul Mohamed urged the city council to reduce its workers’ salaries and allocate more money for priority services.
“We have noticed with concern that the salaries that are given to the council workers, especially top management staff are too high. I think the council should address this issue to reduce the burden on ratepayers. The bulk of the money that we are paying for water and other services seems to be going to the workers and this is not fair on our part.
“We are also concerned about the buildings in the city that have gone for years without being occupied. The city council is losing a lot of money because nobody is paying tariffs. Something should be done to ease the burden on us,” said Mr Mohamed.
Bulawayo businessman Mr Sam Ncube urged the city council to fully utilise its legal department to collect debts from ratepayers and do away with lawyers who would need more money from the defaulters, who are already failing to pay the bills.
“While we appreciate that the local authority has to recover its money from debtors, it does not make sense to employ the services of independent lawyers as they would just share the money with the city council.
“I have witnessed a case whereby the city council hired lawyers to recover a $24 000 debt from a ratepayer and the lawyers charged $6 000 for the services, which is a lot of money,” said Mr Ncube.
In response, Bulawayo Mayor Councillor Thaba Moyo said the city council was facing a number of challenges, which were making it difficult to achieve its targets.
“As we review the 2012 budget, let us be mindful of the challenges the city and the rest of the nation are facing. The business operating environment has remained challenging due to a number of factors, which in turn negatively affect the operations of the council.
“As a result these challenges have affected the progress of the projects, which are in the pipeline although we have managed to achieve some with assistance from our donor partners,” said Clr Moyo.
He said the closure of industries and the inability of residents to pay their bills continued to haunt the city council, mainly affecting revenue collection and service delivery.
“High unemployment rate which stands at 80 percent and the low disposable incomes are affecting all citizens. Our infrastructure is old and there is a need of replacing it, which requires a lot of capital funding.
“It is of concern that our debts stand at $69,7 million accrued since the inception of dollarisation. We all need to work together and strive for the achievement of the 2012 goals and objectives,” he said.
Clr Moyo said the city council would launch a call centre next month to provide a platform for residents to channel their complaints.
The city council started its consultative budget meetings last week in a bid to establish implementation challenges for 2012, confirm priority areas for 2013 and come up with options for financing the budget and get stakeholders’ commitment.
This year the consultations have been held early to enable the council to present its draft budget for approval by the Ministry of Local Government, Rural and Urban Development, on time.
The meetings, which are facilitated by councillors and council officials, are expected to be held in all the city’s 29 wards.
Other stakeholders expected to attend the meetings include transport operators, business organisations, civil society organisations, political parties, residents’ associations and informal traders.
Online Reporter