Budget is ‘more of the same’

• Published date: 15 July 2021
• Author: Karen Watkins karen.watkins@inl.co.za

It hits ratepayers with a 4.5% average increase for rates, 5% increase for water and sanitation, 3.5% for refuse removal, and a whopping 13.5% electricity-tariff hike.

JP Smith, mayoral committee member for safety and security, told an online meeting, hosted by Frances Lombard, branch chairman for the DA in Ward 71, on Wednesday July 7, that the City had “done everything” to soften the blow.

However, the City had been unable to wholly absorb Eskom’s 17.8% increase on the cost of electricity it supplies to municipalities, and other increases were needed to cover the cost of providing services.

Bergvliet Meadowridge Ratepayers’ Association chairman, Mark Schäfer, said they were concerned that the City wrote off huge amounts of debt every year for “non-payers” yet sought to justify to the “payers” that the increase was reasonable – in the circumstances – compared to other metros.

“Yet we, in established areas, increasingly see a lack of maintenance of infrastructure – be it sewerage pumps or pavements and roads, street lighting, garbage removal vehicles, etc.

“While the budget gets spent on staffing costs and non-payers, there is no point in trumpeting clean audits (which we expect) and the lowest increases – when the City is not delivering at various levels on its mandate,” said Mr Schäfer.

“While we appreciate that the poorest of the poor need to be subsidised to ensure a level of basic services, and even to bring about a level of equalisation, it seems that inordinate amounts are repeatedly spent in some areas while other areas are neglected. If you don’t maintain what you have, it eventually needs to be replaced at greater cost.”

Mr Schäfer also asked why pre-paid electricity customers paid the same as those who were billed monthly. Even though the City had an additional cost of reading meters and billing and recovery.

We asked the City if there were people who still got their electricity without a prepaid meter. They said yes, but there was a programme to replace the old credit meters and install prepaid ones.

The are also residents who are supplied by the City directly and residents who are supplied by Eskom directly. According to the City, this is due to legacy distribution licence agreements.

Constantia Ratepayers’ and Residents’ Association (CRRA) manager, John Hesom, responded to questions from the Bulletin after the virtual meeting, saying every business in the province had been hit hard by the pandemic.

Businesses and employees had made...