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Mkhululi Ncube, Chronicle Reporter
THE Bulawayo City Council (BCC) will today start meeting residents over a proposed supplementary budget that may result in a rise in rates and tariffs in line with the increased cost of living.
Last month, the local authority said while their 2019 budget had recently been approved by the Ministry of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing, recent developments in the country’s economic sector had necessitated that they come up with a supplementary budget.
In a notice yesterday, the Town Clerk, Mr Christopher Dube, said the meetings would be held in four days between today and Tuesday.
“Bulawayo City Council will be conducting consultative meetings around the city. The meetings will be facilitated by ward councillors and the aim of the consultation meetings is to present the proposed 2019 Supplementary Budget,” said Mr Dube.
After the ward consultations, the city officials will meet women, youths, transport operators and informal traders as well as the business community on Monday and Tuesday at the Large City Hall to listen to their concerns.
Last month, the local authority’s Chamber Secretary, Mrs Sikhangele Zhou, said she could not state the level of increment for rates and tariffs.
However, she said it would be unavoidable since council also had to pay in order to get services and the existing budget was not enough to keep the local authority functioning.
“You know we crafted our budget in September and it was before the monetary policies in October and the recent one that devalued the RTGS dollar. So for us there is a need to come up with contingency measures if we are to continue; fuel prices have increased, of which we use a lot of fuel as a municipality to provide services.
“So, yes, we are going to have a supplementary budget but we will consult residents on the level of services they want us to provide because the level of service is determined by level of payments made. I won’t pre-empt but yes, it is obvious residents will get a rates and rental increment but what we can’t say at the moment is at what magnitude because if you look at where prices were in September and today, you will realise that everything has gone up,” said Mrs Zhou.
Last year the city tabled a $212,5 million budget for 2019, which had been increased from $152,5 million in 2018.
Recently, BCC councillors rejected a proposal by the finance department to resume water disconnections as a debt recovery strategy from residents citing the prevailing economic challenges faced by residents. – themkhust_ncube
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