Harare increases rates without approved budget

Suburban Reporter

Another dispute is brewing between residents and the City of Harare as the council has increased rates at a time the municipality is failing to provide services to ratepayers.

Residents were left wondering what justification the City of Harare had for increasing rates when it dispatched the April bills. The city’s budget is also still under consideration for approval, which means the increases are illegal.

In discussions on their online platforms, residents inquired from each other if their bills were showing an increase in rates.

Some Highlands residents did confirm that their bills were between US$20 and US$50 more than what they paid in March.

A resident with a property in the Avenues said rates had trebled and would be visiting the City of Harare offices to seek an explanation. The discussion heard that some of the bills rose by up to 42 percent and residents described the increases as unacceptable.

Residents pondered how the municipality was increasing rates when it had not been given the approval to do so since central Government rejected the City of Harare’s 2024 budget proposals. Normally, local authorities increase their rates when they effect new budgets. But the City of Harare’s budget was rejected by the Ministry of Local Government and the council has had to redraft the budget which still awaits approval.

Ratepayers described the city’s move as “pure thieving” and called for demonstrations against the fleecing they were being subjected to.

Ward 7 Councillor Rose Muronda confirmed to residents on the Highlands Residents Association online platform that the rates had been increased.

“True to his (the revenue officer’s) word rates have gone up a little bit due to the introduction of a new updated Valuation Roll.

“Every local authority (council) is mandated to do a valuation of all properties in their areas of jurisdiction. This is giving land and properties a value in relation to the market although ours will be below market value. Thus the increase in property tax is in relation to that. If one feels they need more clarity they are free to contact or visit our valuation division at Rowan Martin,” Cllr Muronda, who is also Deputy Mayor for Harare told residents.

This has left residents livid because the City of Harare’s budget is yet to be approved following the rejection of an earlier proposal.

Ratepayers are also concerned about the municipality’s shambolic billing system and questioning how the council is arriving at the amounts it is charging them when the system is not working. In addition, the residents have been lamenting the fact that council is billing them for non-provided services such as water and refuse collection.

Greendale residents reported having similar issues with their bills and were also astonished at the justification for the increases.

One resident said their total bill was ZiG$1 266.84 which translates to US$95 at the official exchange rate and that seemed on the high side. The resident was charged ZiG$171.55 for refuse collection, the equivalent of US$12.90 at the official rate.

Another Greendale resident said the property tax of US$95 was definitely higher than it was some years ago, pointing out that for Greendale property tax was around US$60 to US$65. The resident argued that there were more expensive areas like Monavale, where property tax has been US$80 for a long time.

Last week, Harare Mayor Jacob Mafume admitted that the billing system was a perennial problem and council was losing money to corrupt workers taking advantage of the shambolic system.

He said as a result council ends up punishing ratepayers who religiously pay their bills by slapping them with high bills to cover the deficit of defaulters.