Municipal rates increase from July
Residents of the Modimolle-Mookgophong Municipality will see a 4,9% increase in all municipal tariffs, with a 12 % increase in the cost of electricity.
There will be no increase on property tax. These increases will come into effect from Monday 1 July this year.
During a council meeting on Thursday 30 May, the council approved the integrated development plan (IDP) and the budget for the 2024/2025 financial year.
According to the final Integrated Development Plan (IDP) and Budget document, property rates tariffs will not be increased in the 2024/25 financial year to lessen the impact of the new valuation roll on consumers. The new valuation roll may result in increased property values which, by extension, will increase the property tax.
The Freedom Front Plus (FF Plus) proposed to council that there should be no tariff increases, except for electricity.
“Unfortunately we didn’t get any support for this in council. Our suggestion was that instead of increasing tariffs by 5%, the municipality should increase the number of residents who pay by 5%,” said councillor Johan Prinsloo.
“We are really worried about the current collections rate and feel that it needs to be drastically improved.”
Councillor Wiets Botes (DA) said that there were steep increases in municipal rates in the previous two years.
“The revaluation of properties will also have an impact on residents’ pockets. We fought to keep property tax at the same rate, but the new valuation of many properties will have the same effect as an increase in rates,” he said.
Die Pos has reached out to Sechele Sebolai, mayor of the municipality for comment, but hasn’t received any feedback by time of going to press.
The municipality, which has been in financial straits for many years, is busy converting all electricity meters to prepaid meters and converting and replacing water meters with the help of municipal infrastructure grant funds. This will hopefully have an impact on the collection rates and improve the financial position. The municipality is also participating in a debt relief programme with regards to the Eskom debt, which has been a major drain on finances. Sebolai previously told Die Pos that the programme may relieve the municipality of the lion’s share of the
Eskom debt and that Eskom has stopped levying interest on the principal debt.
The Integrated Development Plan and Budget 2024/2025 is available on the municipality’s website.
