PLUMTREE - The local Town Council has been forced to reduce its rates and supplementary charges by between 25 and 50 per cent owing to resistance by residents, local authority officials have confirmed. (Pictured :Plumtree border town with Bostwana)
Town council secretary, Davies Dumezweni Luthe, said the town council reduced its US$.1.4 million budget because residents were failing to pay rates and bills. “The major reason behind the reduction of the rates and charges was the fact that residents were failing to pay for the services offered by the council,” he said. A schedule from the Plumtree Town Council shows that the commercial shop licences have been reduced from US$41 to US$32, development permits from US$17 to US$13 for high density suburbs and US$20 to US415 for medium and
US$24 to US418 for low density areas.
The move to reduce the rates is however set to impact negatively on the efforts of the struggling Plumtree local authority to offer efficient municipal services to residents and businesses there. Most local authorities blame their failure to offer efficient municipal services on lack of financial resources. Local authorities countrywide are facing resistance from ratepayers who are refusing to pay monthly rates and bills they deem exorbitant in light of the salaries earned by the majority of Zimbabwe’s workforce.
In Bulawayo, the local authority in the second biggest city last week said it would start penalizing defaulting ratepayers. The local authority has already embarked on an operation to disconnect water services of defaulting ratepayers.
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