Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko has said that City Hall will factor in controller of Budget advise wile implementing projects.
Sonko said there are key aspects highlighted in the 2018/19 Controller of Budget report that are worth reflecting on.
Among them is the wage bill which declined by 7.4% from Sh14.84 billion in FY 2017/18 to Sh Sh13.74 billion FY2018/19.
“It is worth noting that salaries, operations and maintenance services (recurrent expenditure) paid to the over 11,000 workers have absorbed over 70% of the total amount released by the CoB to the County,” Sonko said.
Sonko said the process of weeding out ghost workers began immediately he took over office and that is why the county spent 7.4% less on salaries than in the last financial year.
The County Government will soon launch the staff biometric results which will further help identify areas to improve on in terms of labor.
“We have to admit that some of our staff who have served for ages at the county are beyond their productivity levels and we are going to have a decent and respectful conversation with them so that we see how we can have room for fresh and resourceful workforce,” the Governor said.
On Revenue, the country has improved in own source revenue collection by 1.4 % from Sh10.11 billion in FY 2017/18 to Sh10.25 billion in 2018/2019.
However, this was against a target of Sh17 billion.
Since 2013, Nairobi has not been meeting its revenue targets.
A recent assessment by the Commission on Revenue Allocation (CRA) has blamed the slow growth in revenue collection on underperformance in collections from land rates despite the fact that investors are making huge profits in property prices.
The report indicates that the county can collect up to Sh77.91 billion if it reviews its valuation roll upwards.
The county currently charges property owners land rates based on 25 percent of the unimproved site value as per the 1980 valuation roll.
We are in the process of reviewing the valuation roll upwards to 50%.
This will take effect in the 2020/21 financial year.
The county has also restricted issuance of waivers that may bar the county from achieving revenue targets.
Sonko said the County is now focusing on implementing the program-based budget in all the wards, with the CoB report indicating that in the last financial year, the Ward Development Fund unit recorded highest absorption rate.
Nairobi is one of the counties that obtained highest expenditure in absolute terms at Sh29.94 billion.
Kiambu had Sh14.26 billion and Mombasa was at Sh12.53 billion.
The county’s absorption rate in terms of development stands at 78% making it the County with highest absorption rate.
This year, an absorption minimum rate target of 92 % has been set by the Nairobi County Finance department despite the delay in issuance of the equitable share funds from the National Treasury.
With the County shifting focus to water and environment services next year, the county is expected to meet its water deficit of about 250,000 cubic meters daily.
Already, a water pipeline from Kiambu to Embakasi storage tank is underway and will be complete before end of the year 2020.
Another water channel from Kabete to Nairobi’s South C estate has also been initiated by the Nairobi Water Company with support from the World Bank.
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