COUNCILS countrywide have a difficult task cut out for them.Reports indicate that the customary long, winding queues that were a common feature at council banking halls particularly towards the end of the month are disappearing.
The reason is not because of the advent of new electronic payment platforms such as EcoCash that allow people to transact from the comforts of their offices or homes. Neither is it a result of other proficient customer care strategies that have the effect of reducing the waiting times endured by ratepayers in order to access service.
Giving rise to the disappearance of queues in council banking halls is the biting liquidity crisis that has robbed households of spending cash.
While the city fathers admit that the liquidity crunch has taken a toll on revenue generation so much that banking halls have become deserted they do not seem to have the solutions to ride out the situation.
All they appear to be good at is to heap the blame on previous adminstrators.
One of the most convenient scapegoats has been to ascribe the decline in revenue collection to the unwillingness by residents to pay for services rendered in the wake of government’s cancellation of bills that had been accumulated between 2009 and July this year. Another popular excuse is that of the harsh economic environment that has seen thousands of workers being rendered redundant owing to massive job cuts and company closures across all sectors of the economy. Most workers are also going for months without receiving their salaries.
While it is correct to argue that councils are feeling the effects of the liquidity squeeze because the affected workers also happen to be ratepayers, it is folly for city fathers to narrate the obvious without proffering solutions to the challenges.
There has been a further deterioration in service delivery since the controversial government directive was issued in July and the signs are there for everyone to see that councils are clearly struggling to fulfill their mandates.
It is a sorry sight driving around most suburbs throughout the country. Roads are becoming impassable due to potholes while street and tower lights ceased to be functional a long time ago.
Residents are also going for weeks if not months without piped water while refuse collection, which used to be done regularly, is now erratic.
To add to these woes, not many councils are able to dispatch statements to residents on time. As far as they are concerned, it is the responsibility of the residents to enquire about their bills from council offices. And after accepting this abnormality, their billing systems are in shambles.
If this is not sheer arrogance, then we don’t know what else would qualify to be called by that name.
Despite the enormity of the challenges, a way out must be found. To survive the tough economic challenges, councils must think outside the box because residents still expect them to deliver at the end of the day regardless of the challenges before them.
In any case, it does not help to cry over spilt milk.
The starting point, in our view, is for councils to take a closer look at their operations with a view to re-adjusting them in response to the environment.
Most councils did themselves a huge disservice by giving their executives obscene salaries and other jaw-dropping perks when the country transited to multi-currencies in February 2009. It was a trend which most parastatals also fell for despite the fact that central government, taking cognisance of the new environment, had opted to pay civil servants US$100 allowances before gravitating towards salaries.
Even as things stand, government is still paying its workers salaries way below the poverty datum line, estimated at less than US$600.
It is unavoidable that councils should introduce a scissors to trim their salary bills to reasonable levels because there was no basis for the huge salaries and perks in the first place.
For selfish reasons, councils also chose to ignore the “prudence concept” which entails that assets income is not overstated while liabilities and expenses are not understated. Had this concept been adhered to, councils should have understated their revenues and come up with a realistic salary structure that also provides for service delivery.
It was also irresponsible for councillors and the Ministry of Local Government to approve budgets incorporating such absurd salaries and perks which were motivated by greed without interrogating how those salaries were going to be financed. The salaries did also not mirror the low disposable incomes that were prevailing in the economy at the time and their likely impact on revenue inflows.
As a result, residents now find themselves in a situation where the bulk of the revenue collected goes towards salaries, with very little towards the provision of services. Now that all arrears incurred between 2009 and July were written off, revenues have plummeted to frightening levels.
The current situation whereby the bulk of the revenue goes towards salaries is not sustainable. In fact, it makes it appear as if residents primary concern is to fund salaries only when in actual fact they are paying for service.
Councils should therefore come up with a new salary structure commensurate with their revenue inflows in order to release more resources towards service delivery.
Further, the culture of work ethic within councils need to be addressed as a matter of urgency. Gone should be the days when workers didn’t work during the week only to work on Sunday and get overtime yet the same assignments could have been done during normal working hours.
It could also be that councils are overstaffed in certain areas of which the right thing to do under the circumstances would be to rationalise operations and engage in aggressive cost-cutting measures.
Council employees will naturally be angry and threaten to strike but we are looking at the bigger picture. Those that will not be happy are free to resign and look for employment elsewhere, and that should apply across the board.
It’s time for councils take the bull by the horns.