Suburban
PROPERTY tax for Harare residents has gone up by almost 165 percent as the city council implements the pegging of rates and service charges in United States dollars although payable in local currency at the prevailing official rate.
Peter Tanyanyiwa Suburban Reporter
Some residents from the northern suburbs have expressed surprise over the ever increasing council rates and service charges at a time the City of Harare is not able to provide them with services such as water and refuse collection.
The residents pointed out that the situation is not helping anyone as the bills are now unaffordable for many yet a number of residents are still complaining that they are not getting services.
A Borrowdale resident, who preferred to remain anonymous, gave a breakdown of the tariffs and how this will affect the residents.
“So, the CoH (City of Harare) property tax increased hugely effective February 2022. My property tax went from $7 736.72 to $20 549.06 in March 2022 and then because this tariff is pegged in USD it went up again in April 2022 to $21847.17 due to exchange rate fluctuations. So, January was billed in old tariffs (January 2021 tariffs hence the huge difference) and February was billed in new tariffs.
“We understand that rates needed to go up but this drastic increase makes them unaffordable to most ratepayers. A lot of people are in arrears as they were objecting to receiving no services and therefore weren’t paying. So they now have those arrears plus this major increase to pay as final demands are being issued,” said the Borrowdale resident. Another resident from the northern suburbs said they recently went to pay their rates at their local district office and were told that these were now denominated in United States dollars and the Zimbabwe dollar amount is determined by the rate on the day of payment. Residents said the move had come as a surprise to them given that the City of Harare had given those with outstanding amounts a three-month notice to either clear the debts or agree payment plans. Council said those who failed to take action within the three months would have their bills converted into the foreign currency.
Zimbabwe Combined Residents and Ratepayers Association (ZICORRA) Harare provincial director Mr Lawrence Kuleya also confirmed his organisation had received numerous complaints from residents over the continued rise in rates and service charges.
He urged the local authority to realise that its mandate was to provide services to the people and not steal from the ratepayers.
“Many residents are complaining about high bills with zero service delivery. Council must prioritise service delivery ahead of everything else. Had the high rates been doing something tangible to residents it would have been better given the state of the economy. But there is nothing on the ground to justify their rate increases. Given what they prioritise, it seems council is forgetting that they are a service provider to residents. Council as an institution must not follow the black market rates but follow the gazetted (official Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe) rates. It’s unfair on residents most of whom don’t earn income based on black market rates,” said Mr Kuleya. In its 2022 budget, the municipality had increased its rates and services by between 37,5 percent to 67 percent rates effective from February 1 but residents condemned the move saying council risked losing revenue as ratepayers will simply not pay because they are not getting any services at the moment.
The new rates and charges for an average high density householder rose to $2 387, up from $1 736 while an average low density suburb family saw their monthly bill rise to $7 630, up from last year’s $4 558.
In March council announced plans to dollarise debts owed by residents and other ratepayers three months after debtors are invited to negotiate payment plans.
“Residents who fail to retire their debts within three months of being invited to negotiate payment plans will have their outstanding debts converted to United States dollars at the interbank rate and pay the debts in US$,” the municipality posted on its Twitter handle.
The local authority argued that unpaid debts were losing value owing to inflation.
“Money owed to council is losing value daily and when it is finally paid, it will not meet its budgeted targets. Hedging the debts against the United States dollar will help council maintain value when it’s finally paid,” the City of Harare argued.
