Bulawayo City Council’s (BCC) revenue collection last year dropped by 6% to $67,9 million due to harsh economic environment haunting the country, latest council minutes have shown.
BY MTHANDAZO NYONI
A financial statement review prepared by financial director, Kimpton Ndimande revealed that the total receipts last year amounted to $67,9m compared to $72,3m recorded in 2015.
Ndimande attributed this to the decline in economic activity, which saw many companies in the city closing shop.
“There was less income because some properties, which were earmarked for servicing in year 2016, were not serviced, hence, they could not be billed. Some shops closed their businesses and fewer new businesses than expected were established,” he said.
Ndimande said income from water and sewerage services was also affected by reduced water consumption, which has been worsened by water shedding.
Cash collections to December 2016 decreased by 20,92% to $5,5m compared to the prior month, he noted.
Accrued expenditure to December 2016 amounted to $79m against total budgeted expenditure of $107,6m.
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Ndimande said low levels of cash inflows continued affecting budgeted expenditure, resulting in a favourable variance of $28,6m.
Of this accrued expenditure, salaries and allowances amounted to $56,4m followed by general expenditure, which amounted to $35,2m, while $11,9m was spent on repairs and maintenance.
Accrued income to December 2016 amounted to $104,8m compared to the total budget of $107,6m, giving an unfavourable variance of $2,9m due to less income from properties, water and sewerage services among others.
He said during the period under review, debtors stood at $147,7m from $144,9m at the beginning of December 2016.
The increase was as a result of inadequate payment of bills by some consumers, he said.
Ndimande also noted that the creditors balance for the month decreased from $138,8m to $138,4m as council continues to acquire goods and services on credit, while there was a backlog in payments for services received.
