Spending cuts were on the cards for Ilembe district as measures were put in place to contain municipal costs going into the new financial year.
The cost-cutting measures were tabled by Ilembe mayor Siduduzo Gumede at the 2019/2020 budget at the district council meeting in KwaDukuza last week.
The R1.2 billion budget was supported by all the political parties except the Democratic Alliance who did not support the budget citing dissatisfaction with the proposed tariff increases.
The municipality’s chief whip, Sandeep Oudhram announced an array of austerity measures to help cut municipal expenditure on non-core items, such as travel expenditure, staff overtime, catering, cellphones and credit cards and redirect the funding towards service delivery.
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The measures were in line with the Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs department (Cogta) circular that listed cost-containment regulations compulsory for all municipalities.
Key areas prioritised in the budget included the acceleration of water and sanitation provision in rural communities, upgrading and replacement of ageing infrastructure, promotion of the Save Water campaign and encouraging consumers to pay for services through campaigns.
The main concerns raised during the consultation process revolved around maintenance issues such as service interruptions, availability of water tankers, responses to leaks and illegal connections.
Water tariffs will be raised by 9.6% in the new financial year, a figure well above the 5.2% inflation rate for the 2019/2020 financial year.
Municipal officials said the 9.6% was the increase passed onto them from Umgeni Water.
The municipality also proposed a six percent increase in electricity tariffs, but indicated this may change as Eskom still had to hear the outcome of its request to the National Energy Regulator for a 15% increase.
A total of R272.9 million has been set aside to deal with water and sanitation infrastructure.
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