Too much money being used for admin, report on municipalities shows
Municipalities are being burdened by huge administrative bills, which are rapidly outstripping the cost of delivering services to residents at over R40bn. This is according to a report from the South African Local Government Association (Salga) and the Financial and Fiscal Commission released in Cape Town on Wednesday, which shows municipalities face unprecedented challenges in getting their expenses under control.The report found annual administrative costs across local government sat at R42bn compared with overall operating expenditure to deliver services to the poor at R35bn. The report, entitled Cost of Municipal Basic Services, also hinted that failure to maintain infrastructure was aggravating the already massive infrastructure backlog among councils and raising the cost of renewal.The report’s findings come at a time when the government is conducting a review of the equitable share allocation system, which poor municipalities rely on to fund infrastructure programmes.Salga CE...
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