adminPatrick Chitumba, Midlands Bureau Chief
KWEKWE City Council is broke and its ability to provide services and pay salaries thus far, is nothing short of a miracle, the council finance committee chairperson, councillor Janet Ticharunga, has said.
She said the local authority has proposed to adopt a $30,5 million budget for next year — unchanged from the 2015 one.
Already, the council has started conducting budget consultative meetings as the local authority seeks to adopt the unchanged budget.
According to a budget statement, the municipality is seeking to raise $30, 5 million to finance its expenditure, with $30,3 million expected to be spent on service delivery, salaries and other major repairs.
Nearly $7 million will be used to pay its workers.
“The revenue income will be driven mostly by rates and supplementary charges, which are expected to raise $7,6 million and tariff income and sales, which are expected to contribute $15,3 million,” said Clr Ticharunga.
She said other sources of income will include penalties for those failing to abide by the city by-laws and fees paid by service users, which are expected to raise $3,4 million.
Clr Ticharunga said council only managed to raise $15,7 million out of the budgeted $30,5 million in 2015 and debts are expected to rise by $3,6 million from $22,9 million in January to $26,7 million by the end of October.
She said it was council’s intention to continue widening its revenue base by including all properties that are yet to be evaluated.
The council’s 2015 budget was only approved in July after council was forced to cut down the salary of the town clerk Emmanuel Musara to $4,500 from about $8,000 a month.
Online Reporter