Budget, overtime in mayoral address

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GEORGE NEWSFLASH - The underspending of the capital budget and overspending on overtime payouts were highlighted in George Mayor Melvin Naik's address to Council last week.

He called on Municipal Manager Trevor Botha to swiftly bring order in the administration.

"Although national treasury gave us a heads up on sound financial management, there are serious red lights flashing," said Naik.

With only four months left to the end of the financial year on 31 June, only 15% of the capital budget has been spent, compared to 27% in 2017.

"The budget committee was at stages under severe pressure to accommodate the requests from directorates, but now little movement is found on the spending of our budgets," said Naik.

"I don't even want to engage the overtime matter.

"Seeing that we can't improve on managing overtime, I've decided to engage provincial treasury to assist in scrutinising our internal audit report on overtime."

The city's rapid expansion, high unemployment rate and increased need for infrastructure were next on the mayor's list of priorities.