By JAMES KUNDA –
THE Ndola City Council (NCC) has approved a K115.9 million, 2015 budget for approval by the Ministry of Local Government and Housing.
The 2015 income and expenditure budget estimates have gone up by 12 per cent to K115.9 million from K103 million in 2014.
NCC finance, human resource and general purposes committee chairperson Andrew Kalima unveiled the budget during a budget presentation ceremony held in the NCC Council Chamber last week.
“The budget represents 31.4 per cent for personal emoluments amounting to K36,432,788, 3.4 per cent or K3, 919,787 for the Ward Development Fund (WDF) and K382,944 or 0.3 per cent for councilors allowance,” he said.
A total of K5, 600 had been set aside for the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) representing 4.8 per cent of the budget, while K 31,358,299 was allocated to service provision representing 27.1 per cent and administrative and other costs would gobble up K38, 231,839 or 33 per cent of the budget.
Mr Kalima said the council was aware of the fact that people expected the local authority to deliver the desired services that met expectations of the general public.
“This is why we need Government to address the following; Central Government to start sending the Local Government Equalization fund announced in the2015 budget and implementation of the Payroll Management and Establishment Control (PMEC) effective January 2015.
Meanwhile, the council’s budget performance for 2014 as at September 2014 was at 72 per cent for revenue and 69 per cent for expenditure.
During the period January to September 2014, the council received a total revenue of K50 million made of K34 million from locally generated revenue and K16 million for Central Government support.
“In terms of revenue, the council did not perform well resulting into not achieving most of the service delivery targets,” Mr Kalima said.