Chronicle Editor
Leonard Ncube, Victoria Falls Reporter
MOST local authorities are not compliant with annual budget requirements, especially in meeting deadlines for submitting financial plans and providing billing details to Government.
This was revealed during a two-day budget training workshop organised by the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works for Victoria Falls City Council.
Two-thirds of the country’s local authorities failed to meet the November deadline for the 2021 annual budgets, with only 31 out of 92 submitting their financial plans before the deadline.
Most budgets submitted by the local authorities were substandard as they were non-compliant to the revenue standardised budgeting format.
The Ministry’s financial advisor Mr Tatenda Mandeya said only eight urban local authorities and 23 rural district councils met the statutory November deadline for submitting budgets.
“The deadline for submitting budgets was November 30 and only eight urban and 23 rural local authorities were compliant to the revenue standardised budgeting format and meeting submission deadline. Some local authorities provided cash receipts as revenue expenditure and it was difficult to ascertain billing performance as there was no record of billed revenue. This information is very useful as it is a good indicator of council’s billing and collection of rates,” said Mr Mandeya.
He said most local authorities submitted unauthentic statistics and many were still using manual billing systems, which also compromise quality and authenticity of the financial statements.
“Some budgets had mathematical errors while others adjusted tariffs without a supplementary budget or seeking approval from the Ministry, which compromised the whole process,” said Mr Mandeya.
Some of the local authorities that adjusted budgets without supplementary budgets are Zvishavane, Beitbridge, Mvurwi, Mutasa and Gutu.
Victoria Falls City Council is one of the local authorities that made a late budget submission resulting in it being approved in June this year although it was commended for being among the top revenue earners alongside Harare, Bulawayo, Mutare, Gweru, Chitungwiza, Ruwa, Beitbridge, Gwanda and Kwekwe.
Victoria Falls council is, however, is still awaiting approval of its supplementary budget.
Key challenges obtaining in the Ministry as a result of local authorities’ poor budgeting ethics include failure to meet deadlines, failure to provide billing details, lack of valuation rolls, failure to submit quarterly reports and realistic financials.
Chief financial advisor in the Ministry Mr Alpha Nhamo urged local authorities to contribute to the National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1) by making financial statements that speak to endowments found in their areas and come up with traffic that reflects value.
Victoria Falls council has been at loggerheads with ratepayers who have complained that their views are disregarded in the budget making process. — @ncubeleon
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