THE Bulawayo City Council has expressed concern over the late approval of the 2014 budget by Local Government minister Ignatius Chombo saying this had considerably crippled its coffers.
NQOBANI NDLOVU STAFF REPORTER
Council submitted the 2014 proposal to the ministry in November last year, but the budget was only approved seven months later in June.
The local authority said this affected service delivery capacity as it was forced to operate on thin revenues for six months after failing to reap projected income based on its 2014 budget.
“Councillor Silas Chigora noted with concern that while the budget making process for 2014 budget had been completed timeously, and documents submitted to the Local Government ministry in November 2013 in accordance with the ministerial guidelines and requirements, approval thereof had only been granted in June 2014 – more than six months after submission,” the latest minutes of the council finance and development committee read in part.
“Such late approval of the budget posed a serious handicap on council’s finances as six months budgeted income had already been lost and council was operating on a depleted revenue base.
“Meanwhile, council was expected to maintain full service delivery or face censure, this in his view was extremely unfair.
“Other councillors shared the same view and thereafter it was resolved that the recommendation of the finance and development committee be received and noted with concern.”Local authorities survive on rates and fines levied on residents and do not get any government budgetary allocation.
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The council adopted its $156 million budget for 2014 that is anchored on domestic financing aimed at consolidating improved service delivery and attracting more investors to the city.The budget was brought down by $13 million from the 2013 budget’s $169 million with charges for residents remaining unchanged.
Council argued that this was a result of a myriad of factors which include the liquidity crunch, unemployment and deindustrialisation, among others, which have affected residents and the business sector as well as council itself.
