GEORGE NEWS - The city's capital budget for the next three years is just short of R2,5-billion - the largest in the history of George.
"If we take the four-year period from June 2020 to June 2024 (two years away), our total expenditure budget will effectively double, implying a growth of 19% per annum," said Mayor Leon van Wyk during the tabling of the municipality's multi-year budget for 2022/23 to 2024/25 in council on Monday 30 May.
"This is in contrast to the period from 2015 to 2020 where we only grew by 8% per annum."
Van Wyk said at a conference last week, Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis echoed a similar trend of slow growth over the past decade, where they too need to rapidly accelerate their investment in infrastructure.
"The growth will no doubt have to be managed very carefully in terms of revenue streams, internally generated surplus cash balanced by grants received and loans raised to fund capital expenditure that will in turn be supported by cost reflective tariffs," said Van Wyk.
The Integrated Development Plan (IDP)* was tabled by Van Wyk at the same meeting.
Developments
Van Wyk said the preparation of this budget has been "intensely complex", taking into consideration a number of developments that have occurred and are evolving, including the unreliability of electricity supply by Eskom, the effect of the floods on 22 November 2021 and an influx of citizens who are re-locating to George.
Van Wyk said one of the property developers has indicated that 150 erven in an upmarket estate have been sold within an 18-month period.
"Cement sales by volume in the Western Cape has increased by over 20% and are likely to be close to 30% year-on-year by the end of May, with the Garden Route reflecting similar growth patterns to that of Cape Town."
He said poor service delivery and safety concerns elsewhere are prompting citizens to move to the Western Cape and George.
"Each of these factors has necessitated the budget steering committee to interrogate the state of infrastructure, capital expenditure priorities, revenue billing and collection and the question of funding both capital and operating expenditure," Van Wyk said.
"The experiences of the past six months confirmed that our data interrogation, measurement and analysis requires upgrading ranging from bulk meters, valves, telemetry and smart meters to replacing old water meters We also need to bolster our safety through the introduction of additional CCTV cameras that can be monitored from a 24-hour control room.
"This will in turn require the appointment of additional law enforcement personnel and reaction units. Vandalism, cable theft and illegal dumping have become scourges within our communities. Electronic surveillance devices will be implemented to assist in detecting and apprehending the perpetrators."
* On 28 March, Council considered and decided to adopt its predecessor's integrated development plan (IDP) without amendments. The IDP adopted by a council is a five-year social agreement between the council and community and stakeholders in the municipal area.
Read Van Wyk's full 10-page speech on factors and influences, and a detailed outline of the capital, operating and expenditure budgets:
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