Mayor to table first budget

City Power and Joburg Water are expected to get a large chunk of Joburg’s budget, to be tabled by Parks Tau, to expand and maintain their services.
EXECUTIVE Mayor Parks Tau will table the City’s 2011/2012 budget on Wednesday, 29 June at 10am in the Mayoral Chambers in Braamfontein.

It will be Tau’s first budget as executive mayor and comes shortly after he convened a four-day mayoral lekgotla with all 10 mayoral committee members, senior City managers and chief executives of municipal-owned entities. The gathering was held to sketch out a progressive direction for the City.

The budget will be broadcast live on community radio, including Jozi FM 105.8 FM, Eldos FM 87.6, Alex FM 89.1 FM and Radio Today 1485 AM. Tau’s budget is expected to highlight the City’s previous achievements under former mayor Amos Masondo, as well as new projects and programmes.

The proposed revenue budget is approximately R29-billion, and operating expenditure is R28,3-billion. Municipal-owned entities are expected to take a large chunk of the budget, and the biggest allocations could go to City Power and Joburg Water to expand and maintain basic services.

Other departments that could be favoured in the operating budget include finance and metro police. Allocations are also expected for housing, economic development and job creation, law enforcement, emergency management services, health, development planning and urban management, inner city regeneration, transport, the fight against HIV and Aids, and other priorities.

At the announcement of his new mayoral committee, Tau said his administration wanted to work more effectively and efficiently. “We will be seeking to ensure that our vision of building Johannesburg into a world-class African city continues rapidly and that Joburg becomes the ideal city in which to work, live and play,” he said.

He was in pursuit of a more equitable and spatially integrated city, he added.