The passing of the Endumeni Municipal Budget resulted in an intense debate, which saw the ANC majority stave off a joint DA/EFF/IFP challenge to the proposed 5% rates hike.
The opposition had on Friday called for a 0% increase in rates, but were outvoted 8-5, with Mayor Mdluli describing the ‘nil option’ as a “blanket approach to easing the financial burden of many, which has been exacerbated by the national lockdown, prompted by the Covid-19 pandemic”.
“Not everyone has suffered equally.

” To be fair and to ensure effective service delivery, we have to go for a 5% increase and from there let those who cannot manage to pay contact the municipality and we can study each individual case.

“We have put extra rebate options in place to ensure we can assist the most vulnerable in our town.”
He added that Central Government had added R9 million to assist the municipality during the pandemic crisis.

However, Anthon Raubenheimer (DA) was not impressed, saying the “5% was a blanket approach, while the 0% sent a message that Council recognised the pain of those who were suffering”.

“Instead of looking at ways to generate revenue, let’s look at ways to reduce expenditure. By trimming the R45.5 million allocated to ‘other expenses’ (up from R14 million on the previous year), we can easily save the R5 million or so needed to ensure a 0% rates increase without impacting on service delivery.”

For the full story on the 2020/21 budget see this week’s Courier

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IFP concerned about budget cuts to improve roads

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