kougademocrat

The Kouga Council has adopted a draft budget for the 2019/20 financial year.

Executive Mayor Horatio Hendricks said the draft budget would now be taken to communities for feedback so that it can be finalised in line with legislation and what Kouga communities consider to be the priorities.

“We have tried to keep the proposed tariff increases as low as possible, but there are factors beyond the municipality’s control,” he said.

“This would include, for example, how much Eskom and the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro charge us for electricity and water respectively.

“Municipalities are further compelled by law to cover the cost of delivering basic services through the income for that service.”

In terms of the draft budget the operating revenue for 2019/20 totals R833,972-million. This is an increase of 9,7% compared to the 2018/19 Adjustments Budget.

The main revenue sources are basic service delivery(54,75%), property rates (23,81%) and operating grants and subsidies (15,96%).

The operating expenditure for 2019/20 totals R889,468-million, resulting in a budget deficit of R55,496-million. It is a 8,5% increase compared to the 2019/20 Adjustments Budget.

The main expenditure items are employee-related costs (32,71%), bulk electricity purchases (25,71%) and depreciation (9,57%).

The proposed tariff increases are:

• 7,5% for property rates
• 7,5% for water
• 8% for sanitation
• 8% for refuse
• 5% for the Environmental Management Fee
• 13, 87% for electricity (average increase in income).

The draft capital budget for 2019/20 totals R89,932-million, which is a decrease of 57,08% compared to the 2018/19 Adjustments Budget. The decrease is mainly due to the allocation of the Water Services Infrastructure Grant to the municipality during the current financial year.

Capital projects on the draft include R2-million for the acquisition of land for housing projects, a priority identified in the IDP for various communities.

A further R2-million will be used to purchase wheelie bins for households and R2, 5-million for roads, while almost R10-million has been earmarked for the upgrade of sports facilities, with the bulk going to KwaNomzamo.

Also included are upgrades to parks such as Yellowwoods at Hankey, Pellsrus and Kabeljous at Jeffreys Bay and the Cape St Francis Beach.

Almost R16-million is set to go towards the completion of the Sea Vista Waste Water Works upgrade, R8,7-million for the KwaNomzamo Waste Water Works and R4, 4-million towards the Patensie sewerage package plant.

A further R2,3-million will be used for the municipality’s programme to eradicate the bucket system.

Several electricity projects have also been prioritized for the new financial year, including the electrification of houses at Ocean View and Kruisfontein. R1,2 million has also been earmarked for public lights.

Tags: kouga budget

This entry was posted on April 13, 2019 at 3:33 am and is filed under kouga municipality. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.