Local government needs more state funds, says Salga
The Treasury admits it is grappling with how best to deal with the growing number of municipalities in financial crisis
A comprehensive review of the model for funding local government is required as the one currently in use by the Treasury allocates an inadequate share of nationally raised revenue to the third sphere of government, the South African Local Government Association (Salga) has argued. Salga’s demand comes at a time when the government is facing a severe revenue shortfall and growing pressure for state funding for embattled state-owned enterprises (SOEs). The Salga proposal for more funds for municipalities was made in a parliamentary submission on Friday to the select committee on appropriations on the medium-term budget policy statement (MTBPS), which proposes allocating 48.1% of non-interest expenditure over the next three years to national departments, 42.9% to provinces and 9% to local governments. Over this period, national government resources are expected to grow by 7%, provincial resources by 7.2% and local government resources by 7.2%. In the medium-term budget, the Treasury ad...
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