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Heidelberg bloei met begroting
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12 JUNE 2012
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Increases in rates, power and water
Residents of Ekurhuleni face increases in electricity, water, assessment rates and other services. The budget tabled at a special council meeting show just how the costs will hit the pock-
ets of residents. Assessment rates will increase by 7,50% in all categories. Electricity 13,5% with a free allocation of 100 KWh every month. Electricity used for business purposes is exempt from this free basic alloca-
DA rejects budget budget and said the DA would manage the metro differently and the people would benefit. The DA tabled a 120 point plan to fix problems. These include plugging the waste of water collecting outstanding money owed to Ekurhuleni, protection of electricity revenue, an increase in the property rates base and cutting out unnecessary human resources costs, increasing maintenance expenditure budgeting towards youth employment and organizing work teams across departmental boundaries.
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The Democratic Alliance rejected the Ekurhuleni budget and voted against it. Eddie Taylor, DA Shadow MMC for Finance criticised aspects of the budget, after it was delivered. He said, “The budget is much like my table, glossy on the outside but not very good under the paintwork. If you want the true picture, don’t read the words, analyse the numbers. He outlined what the “numbers” said by saying that the bad news for residents is that yet again over R1-billion of potential cash will not be available for their benefit, because of a lack of political will and downright poor management. Taylor queried why the bad debt provision was budgeted at R129-billion and said it was because the money owed to the EMM is not collected. He gave an example as the Gauteng Department of Health, which owes Ekurhuleni over R130-million. They have offered to pay R5million, but there is no political will to collect this debt. Taylor said R500-million worth of water per year is unaccounted for in the metro and this is not a new problem. “Other metros manage to control over-consumption by indigents, but it doesn’t happen here,” said Taylor. Taylor criticized other aspects of the
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tion. The water tariff will increase by 11,3% for both residential and business. Block tariffs are being restructured. Sanitation will increase by 10,68% for residential and business with block tariffs also being restructured, solid waste will go up by 15% for residential and business. Instead of the initially proposed 44% increase on grave costs and taking into account people’s concerns this increase is now only 12%, striving to ensure that all grave sites are maintained. In his opening remarks before the presentation of the budget, Executive Mayor,
Mondli Gungubele said electricity tariff increases were as approved by the National Electricity Regulator of South Africa. He said the increased cost of bulk water and electricity (due to tariff increases from Rand Water and Eskom) placed upward pressure on service tariffs to residents. The budget address was given by Clr Moses Makwakwa, who said it was important for communities to register as indigents. He said a typical bill of The Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality is lower, when compared to other metros.