Member of the Mayoral Committee for Finance and Economic Development Clr Nkosindiphile Xhakazawe delivered the City of Ekurhuleni’s 2020/21 budget last week.
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This is what you should know:
1. The City remains committed to mega investments, such as the botanical gardens, Formula 1 race course, zoo, Ekurhuleni ICC and Disney Africa.
2. Spending on consultants has been reduced through investment in appropriate human capital. The City has managed to build internal project management capacity, saving a significant amount of money.
3. The City remains determined to eliminating spending on non-essentials, such as catering, advertising, special events, telephone calls, stationery and printing. There will also be no travelling in the 2020/21 financial year. In the current financial year alone, the City has saved R76.1-million.
4. R1.3-billion has been allocated in the medium-term revenue and expenditure framework (MTREF) and R632-m in the 2020/21 financial year towards ICT. Key projects include server upgrades, data centre upgrades, call centre refurbishment, fibre rollout, and the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), to which R243-m was allocated.
The ERP is a state-of-the-art system that will ensure the City operates as one entity, is paperless and does away with the historic fragmented way of doing things.
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5. R627-m in the MTREF and R238-m in the 2020/21 financial year was allocated for upgrade of municipal buildings.
6. Waste and environmental resources management get R705.4-m in the MTREF and R274.3-m for the 2020/21 financial year. Key projects include the development and upgrading of cemeteries and the rehabilitation of the Boksburg Lake.
7. R68.9-m for the maintenance of landfill sites and R46.6-m for parks. A sum of R43.8-m is allocated for machinery and equipment, and R74.3-m for new vehicles.
8. No grass was cut due to the lockdown. A catch-up plan is in place, with R43.6-million for grass cutting, R11-m for litter picking and R50.2-m for waste collection at mini-dumping.
9. The metro police get R280.4-m in the MTREF and R77-m in the 2020/21 financial year. A portion of this amount is going to the recruitment of almost 500 new members and 250 wardens will become fully fledged metro police officers.
10. EMS and Disaster Management get R257-m for the MTREF and R106.7-m for the 2020/21 financial year. Key projects include construction of new precincts and fire stations, construction of vehicle registration centres, purchase of specialised equipment and vehicles, and the establishment of an EMS training academy.
11. The Department of Sport, Heritage, Arts and Culture gets R245.3-m in the MTREF and R75.2-m for the financial year. The rehabilitation of Barnard Stadium is a key project.
12. Roads and storm water get R1.2-b in the MTREF and R452.2-m in the new financial year. R562.8-m is set aside for road refurbishment, potholes, patching and stormwater maintenance.
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13. Water and Sanitation gets R2.1-b in the MTREF and R668.9-m in the financial year. Key projects include replacement of water meters, construction of reservoirs, network upgrades, repair and replacement of valves.
14. R320.1-m in the MTREF and R116.6-m in the financial year to revitalise the economy.
15. Construction of the Rhodesfield/OR Tambo International Airport link bridge will receive a financial boost of R11-m.
16. Interest on current arrears debt accrued from April 1, 2020, is suspended for six months. There will be payment extensions, debt payment can be arranged, no pre-termination and final notice fees, incentives for those who pay their accounts on time.Suspension of interest on current arrears debt linked to the lockdown is applicable to all ratepayers.
17. Social packages will increase by R300-m from R3.8-b to R4.1-b this financial year. This is over and above the R950-m relief that comes with the new tariff structure.18. The first 6kl of water remains free to all households with a property value of up to R750 000.
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