The City of Windhoek (CoW) is seeking to raise at least N$26 million from the newly introduced fire brigade levy which started last month.
The new monthly levy will see residents paying between N$20-30 for residential zoned areas, N$20-350 for non-residential zoned areas and N$75 for churches and charity institutions.
“The rationale behind the levy is to cover the cost of providing essential emergency services that are rendered by the Windhoek fire brigade,” CoW Spokesperson Harald Akwenye said.
Although there are fears that the additional levy will prove burdensome to residents who reportedly owe the municipality billions of dollars in unpaid rates and taxes, Akwenye said the levy will help to capacitate the city’s fire department.
The City budgeted N$109 million for the fire brigade for the period 1 July 2020-30 June 2021, with N$109.8 million budget for the current financial year.
“The levy is expected to generate 26% of the fire brigade Opex budget,” he said.
This comes as the municipality in the 2020/21 financial year, spent $574 million on social services against an income of N$30.87 million during the 2020/21 financial year.
According to municipality figures for the period, the Fire and Emergency services emerged the second largest cost item for municipal social services, costing N$119.9 million during the period under review compared to an income of only N$3.78 million.
The City Police is the biggest driver of the City’s social services costs, gobbling over N$310 million in the 2020/21 financial year, against an income of N$18.8 million.
Public transport cost the City N$100.8 million against income of only N$5.96 million, recording a deficit of N$94.8 million for the period.
Community services costs came in at N$19.7 million for the period, against an income of N$1.36 million.
Disaster management cost for the 2020/2021 financial year came in at N$23 million against an income of only N$939 346.
