The City of Johannesburg Council on Thursday, 27 May 2021, approved the 2021/22 Budget of approximately R73.3 Billion which is set to kickstart the rebuilding of the municipality following the devastation of the Covid-19 pandemic on coffers.
The Budget was presented by the Member of Mayoral Committee (MMC) for Finance, Cllr Jolidee Matongo during his Budget Speech at the 48th Ordinary Council on Tuesday as part of the 2021/22 – 2023/24 Medium Term Budget.
It is anchored on the pleas of the residents of Johannesburg on affordability of annual rates and tariffs, acceleration of service delivery, as well as the Growth and Development Strategy (GDS) 2040 vision of spatial redesign and socio-economic development.
Speaking during the Budget Speech, MMC Matongo said: “A difficult balancing act of our Budget has enabled the City to take into account pleas from residents for minimal tariff increases in the finalisation of the proposed rates and tariffs for 2021/22 – amidst the Covid-19 economic impact on the livelihoods of residents.”
MMC Matongo announced that the City managed to keep the new annual tariff increases at the most possible minimal rates as follows:
• Property rates increase by 2%. This is 2% less than the current property rate charge of 4%.
• Water and sanitation up by 6.8%, which is equal to the pass-through costs from Rand Water, and the City continues to provide all residents with free 6kl of water.
• Refuse increases by 4.3%, which is lower than the increase of 5.2% in the current year.
• Electricity tariff increases by 14.59% for 2021/2022. This is below the 15.09% that NERSA granted to ESKOM.
The tariff increases come after the City has already rolled out several relief measures to assist ratepayers who are struggling to pay for their municipal accounts while also extending the benefit period for residents who are on the Expanded Social Package (ESP) support during the hard lockdown.
The relief measures also included the expansion of the pensioner rebates net to benefit for pensioners, and most recently the improved Debt Rehabilitation Programme to also cover more beneficiaries that include churches, non-profit organizations, and small businesses.
