In light of National Budget 3.0, the City of Cape Town announced that public comment will open after it tables its expanded rates relief measures and other changes to the budget at the City Council’s sitting next week, reports Cape {town} Etc.
According to the City, the sitting will take place on Wednesday, 28 May, at the Civic Centre in the CBD, and the public will be able to comment from Wednesday, 28 May, to Friday, 13 June, on the proposed changes to the City’s Invested in Hope Budget for 2025/26.
‘Cape Town has tabled a South African-record R40 billion infrastructure budget, the widest social relief net of any city, and next week we’ll table measures for even further relief on monthly bills, which are already the lowest of SA’s cities despite Cape Town delivering better services and public value compared to other metros,’ says Cape Town Mayor Hill-Lewis.
‘We’ve listened carefully to Capetonians and will propose expanded relief measures to further soften monthly bill increases in addition to the major electricity price relief for all households.’
Referring to a petition calling for the raising of residential electricity prices instead of a city-wide cleaning charge, Hill-Lewis said that the City’s Mayoral Committee considered the report of public participation this week, in preparation for next week’s tabling.
‘Our modelling shows this will negatively impact households and that it is better to pursue other relief measures. It is also not feasible to phase out critical and urgent infrastructure upgrades as the petition requests,’ he explains.
‘Cape Town will not follow the path of decline seen in other cities, and there are no non-urgent major infrastructure projects in our capital budget.’
Hill-Lewis also added that the City has ‘thoroughly examined its budget to find innovative means to further soften the impact on monthly bills’, which will be tabled for public comment along with amendments to commercial tariff structures.
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Picture: Theo Jephta / Gallo Images
