The ManicaPost
Samuel Kadungure Acting News Editor
RUSAPE Town Council has agreed to slash the proposed tariffs for 2020 following an outcry from residents and ratepayers whose disposable income and profit margins could not match the steep percentages projected in the budget.
RTC had crafted a $70 million budget, but backtracked after stakeholders objected to the hike of between 500 and over 1 000 percent at a time they were grappling with a 150 percent supplementary budget approved in October last year. The council and residents groups met in Nyanga last week and agreed to reduce the tariffs significantly and defer some projects to next year.
The agreed programme-based budget will be submitted to the Ministry of Local Government and Public Works. Rusape town secretary Mr Solomon Gabaza confirmed the rates reduction, adding that the proposals were going through various committees before presentation to full council next week.
“Council is working on the agreed proposals for presentation to the full council. Council has to adopt them and make a resolution to that effect in terms of Section 219 of the Urban Councils Act. Basically, we have agreed on which projects to prioritise and defer. Primarily, our focus will be on water, sewer, roads and health. As things stand, we do not expect them (councillors) to shift the goalposts. By next week, the full council will have made a resolution, after which we will give you the finer details,” said Mr Gabaza.
The residents said the consultation reaffirmed the principle of participatory and deliberative democracy of citizens in budget formulation and political decision-making processes. The meeting agreed to collapse ward-related walls and prioritise projects with a positive impact on the generality of Rusape residents.
The capital expenditure projects were slashed from $25 million to $14 million, with focus now on upgrading water and sewer reticulation infrastructure, maintenance of roads and affordable health services.
