REDUCING unnecessary expenditure and increasing infrastructure development were key elements as Mfolozi Mayor, Cllr SW Mgenge, presented the 2016/2017 budget in the council chambers on Tuesday.
He said the focus of the R175-million budget was to ensure that the municipality continues to meet its IDP goals and to drive economic investment.
Municipal Manager KE Gamede said the budget is centred on achieving service delivery and good corporate governance.
‘My duty as the Municipal Manager is to ensure the objectives are met in a timeous and orderly manner.
‘In developing this budget my financial team took various external factors into account. This included the current state of affairs in our economy and the economic climate in our municipality.
‘The draft budget gives birth to the service delivery and budget implementation plan (SDBIP) which is reflective of the targets and objective for the 2016/2017 financial year.
‘The purpose of the SDBIP is to ensure that officials and councillors work towards a common goal by optimising limited resources and streamlining our efforts to meet service delivery targets.
‘My responsibility to ensure that the budget and the IDP are monitored and evaluated to allow the necessary interventions if required,’ said Gamede.
‘This is evident in us being awarded an Incentive Grant allocation for three years in a row for meeting our expenditure targets for Municipal Infrastructure Grants.
‘This shows our commitment towards ensuring that our people do not remain disadvantaged, even though we have a low revenue generating rates base.’
Chief Financial Officer JV Nkosi said the rural municipality was highly dependent on government grants and subsidies, which makes up 80% of the revenue stream, with the remaining 20% coming from loans.
‘The key focus in the 2016/2017 financial year was to increase revenue collection and this target has been exceeded,’ said Nkosi.
‘We hope to continue this upward trajectory of revenue collection and reduce long outstanding debts.’
