EThekwini Municipality’s 2022/23 consolidated draft budget is geared to drive service delivery and support economic recovery. 

 

The balanced and fully funded draft budget was tabled by eThekwini Mayor Councillor Mxolisi Kaunda at a Full Council meeting on 31 March. It will now go out for public consultation and participation.

 

The City’s consolidated draft budget of R54.6 billion has been reprioritised to support government’s commitment to provide quality service delivery by concentrating on infrastructure development, particularly in water and electricity provision. The provisions in this budget also contribute to the Municipality achieving the strategic objectives of the Integrated Development Plan.

 

The capital budget comprises of R4.8 billion for the next financial year and a projected R15.2 billion over the next three-year period. The Capital budget continues to reflect consistent efforts to address backlogs in basic services and the renewal of the infrastructure and existing network services. 

 

The operating budget increased from R47 billion in 2021/2022 to R49.7 billion in 2022/2023, R52.8 billion in 2023/2024 and R56.2 billion in 2024/2025.

The R49.7 billion is comprised of R18.7 billion for Electricity, R12 billion for Water and Sanitation, R6.5 billion for Community and Emergency Services, R2.6 billion for Cleansing and Solid Waste, and R2.5 billion for Roads and Engineering.

Mayor Kaunda said: “We are confident the austerity measures in place will sustain affordability of services to consumers and ratepayers. Improved productivity and value for money must be driven aggressively by management to ensure improvement of our financial position."

He added that in line with the national and provincial priorities, the Municipality will accelerate economic recovery by creating conditions for private sector investment, prioritise infrastructure development, improve the delivery of basic services, and focus on job creation.

The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the associated economic challenges will continue to pressurise municipal revenue generation and collections into 2022/23, hence a conservative approach has been adopted when projecting expected revenues and receipts. 

The Municipality has managed to achieve a collection rate of 92 percent as of the end of February 2022.

 

TARIFF INCREASES

Mayor Kaunda was proud to announce that the proposed tariff increases for 2022/2023 are lower than last year. 

 

The proposed average electricity increase is 8.61% against the Eskom increase of 9.61%.

The proposed water increase for domestic users is 5.9% and 9% for businesses. 

The proposed refuse tariff increase is 4.5% for residential properties and 7.9% for businesses.

The proposed sanitation tariff increase is 5.9% for residential properties and 9% for business.  

 

There is no proposed property rate increase for residential rates and the City is happy to announce that the rate randage on residential properties has been decreased by 10% due to the implantation of the new valuation roll. The valuation roll objection period has been extended to the end of April. Objections submitted during this period are at no cost to the ratepayer. 

The draft budget consultations will take place during April with details to be communicated in due course.  

 

 Ends 

 

Issued by eThekwini Municipality’s Communications Unit