Latest news with #MunicipalBudget
IOL News
24-05-2025
- Business
- IOL News
Concerns arise as eThekwini Municipality seeks R1. 5 billion loan
The eThekwini Municipality intends to borrow R1.5 billion to fund capital expenditure for the 2024/2025 financial year. Image: Independent Newspapers The eThekwini Municipality intends to borrow R1.5 billion to fund capital expenditure for the 2024/2025 financial year. The municipality presented a progress report on borrowings for capital projects approval of loan agreements at an Executive Committee (Exco) meeting on Friday. It stated that in accordance with the Finance Management Act, it had made public the information statement and invited, received, and considered the written comments/representation from the National Treasury. The municipality said that in response to concerns raised, it was noted that soliciting comments from the National Treasury was based on the Municipal Budget approved 2024/2025 financial year. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ The municipal management also acknowledged that the city was commended by the National Treasury for its cash covering ratio. The municipality intends to take R500 million loan from the First National Bank over 10 years at an indicative fixed interest rate of 10.040%. Also, it intends to take a R1 billion loan from the Development Bank of Southern Africa over 10 years at an indicative fixed rate of 11.110%. If the loans are approved on Monday at the council meeting, City Manager Musa Mbhele will have to sign off on the loan agreements. The municipality stated that during the process of the loan agreement negotiations, the fixed margin remained unchanged. The final interest rate will be confirmed before the loan is drawn out. Councillor Andre Beetge, DA Exco member, was concerned that the municipality would be taking another loan, with the city having R9.9 billion loan payments outstanding. Sandile Mnguni, eThekwini Municipality's Chief Financial Officer, confirmed that the city is planning to borrow R2 billion in the next financial year; in addition, R1.5 billion the following year, and then another R1.5 billion in the next financial year. "The R1.5 billion that we already approved is for the current financial year. I must indicate that the current outstanding long-term liabilities as indicated have not taken into account the repayment of capital that we undertake every six months," Mnguni said. In the eThekwini Finance Committee meeting, the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), ActionSA, Minority Front (MF), the Peoples Freedom Party (PFP), and Democratic Alliance abstained from voting. Only the ANC supported the report by majority vote. Rose Cortes, deputy chairperson of the eThekwini Ratepayers Protest Movement (ERPM), said the borrowing pattern is reckless and speaks to the concerns raised by ratepayers that the municipality is not concerned with reducing spending.
CBC
13-05-2025
- Business
- CBC
Sault Ste. Marie city council wants more details on cost of disbanding local police and switching to OPP
City councillors in Sault Ste. Marie have voted in favour of a motion to compare the cost of policing between the municipal force and the Ontario Provincial Police. The motion was put forward by city councillor and former Sault Ste. Marie police officer Sonny Spina. "The intention behind this motion is nothing more than council doing due diligence for an expense line item to the citizens of Sault Ste. Marie," he said. "I don't want in any way, shape or form to downplay the importance of the police service within our community or the importance of the job everyone within the police service does." Spina said despite that, the cost of the city police force makes up 27 per cent of the municipal budget and a provincial report shows it works out to $463 per ratepayer in the Sault. "The provincial average is $277," he said. "So we're paying a significant amount more in Sault Ste. Marie." Several municipalities in northeastern Ontario have explored the option of switching over to the Ontario Provincial Police service or made the change. North Bay city council had a similar debate in 2018, but decided not to explore the change further. West Nipissing, Espanola and Temiskaming Shores have disbanded their local police and hired OPP in recent years. Sault city councillor Sandra Hollingsworth said she had concerns about the cost of switching to the provincial police. "OPP is catching some towns by surprise, leaving one mayor feeling shocked and disgusted," she said. "All OPP costs are up. The mayor of Russell Township said to CBC that his bill from OPP went from $2.3 million in 2023 to roughly $2.8 million in 2024." But councillor Angela Caputo said the cost of the municipal police force is on the rise as well. "In my time on council alone, we've seen the police budget grow by over 30 per cent," she said. "Getting a price doesn't mean we have to go ahead with it. But I think that at this point, I am very much in favour of getting the costing and seeing what comes from that." Staffing shortages, benefits attributed to police deficit Sault city council heard from the interim police chief Brent Duguay and police services board chair John Bruno about the cost overruns. Last year, the police budget was overspent by almost $2.5 million and this year, the projected deficit is $1.9 million. "An unprecedented 15 to 20 per cent of our police officers are unable to answer emergency calls due to a workplace injury," Burno said. "Additional officers were hired to ensure we could provide adequate and effective policing." Interim chief Duguay said the main cause of the deficit for 2024 was increased spending on salaries and benefits. "This includes approximately $1 million in overtime for major occurrences, staffing shortages and investigative support," he said. Duguay said steps are being taken to address the budget, including reducing non-essential travel and not hiring "outside of the operational needs." Sault Ste. Marie Mayor Matthew Shoemaker said he supported the motion, arguing it makes sense to get more information before making a decision. "The fact that we've got a deficit in last year's police budget and a projected deficit in this year's police budget means that the cost of everything needs to be examined," he said. "This is one of the ways we can do that. Do I think that it will necessarily come in at an amount so much lower that it's going to make the transition to the OPP worth it? I highly doubt it to be honest. I think that it is the difficult, yes, but responsible thing to do to support this so that we can have the information before us."
