VICTORIA Falls council has said it might be forced to scale down some services to cut costs as it cannot review downwards the 2020 $354 million budget.
Recently residents petitioned councilors to review rates downwards.
The municipality which relies largely on ratepayers for revenue, crafted a $354 million budget for 2020, up from $22 million last year.
Pressured by residents, councilors and management had initially agreed on reviewing downwards the budget but council’s finance committee last week noted that the move would cripple the local authority’s operations.
Councillors have since implored management to find alternative sources of revenue, which includes the sale of about 15 low density housing stands.
Speaking during a full council meeting last week, councillors said residents’ financial capacity has been reduced by Covid-19 as most have been rendered jobless.
Finance Committee deputy chair Councillor Prince Thuso Moyo said the local authority desperately needs money for developmental projects.
“If we retain the current budget, we may end up cutting down on service delivery. We need something that can allow council to do service delivery so that after our term we would have done something productive. These are the things to explain to our constituents that some services will not be done. As we stand with residents, let’s us go and explain to them that refuse collection could be scaled down,” said Cllr Thuso.
