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“The main revenue sources are the sale of electricity (R274 million), property rates (R188,8 million), water sales (R75,7 million) waste water management (R50 million) and refuse collection (R37 million) while operational grants amount to R133 million,” said Executive Mayor Horatio Hendricks.
“Debt has been significantly reduced in the municipality, and for the first time ever the Auditor General did not make a finding regarding 30 days and over creditors; and this has now enabled us to redirect funds towards service delivery.
“While there are still problems with the Traffic Department in Humansdorp, it is pleasing to note that we are budgeting for an additional R3 million for licences, as revenue from the Traffic Department is over budget for the first six months of the financial year,” added Hendricks.
More funding has been made available for the resealing and repair of roads throughout Kouga with R25 million available in the budget for this purpose.
“We inherited a backlog in Kouga’s road infrastructure of between R500 million and R600 million after many years of neglect under the previous regime in the municipality.
“We are very happy that we have managed the finances of Kouga in a responsible and prudent manner and can now begin to spend money where it should be spent and that is to invest in the infrastructure like roads.
“With the massive backlog facing us, it will be a long-term project to upgrade all the roads in Kouga, but a start has been made and we will continue to invest in the road network to enhance the lives of our residents, improve property values and attract more investment into Kouga,” he said.
An additional R3 million is being made available for the purchase of wheelie bins with the goal that households in Kouga will have wheelie bins allocated to them.
The Auditor General recently issued an unqualified audit report for Kouga with no material findings pertaining to financial management.
The only area of concern for the Auditor General was performance management, an area the municipality is busy addressing.
