The Municipality of Keetmanshoop needs to increase its running finances by 20% compared to the budget of the 2024/2025 financial year.
This was revealed by Desere Boois, strategic executive for finance, during a community meeting in the southern town earlier this week.
“The council has a staff complement of 253, of which only 150 positions are currently filled, hence the need to increase the budget in order to fill the other 153 vacant positions as a means to enhance service delivery,” she said.
When providing a financial breakdown, the executive stated that the budget would increase from N$369 million for the current financial year to N$444.5 million for the 2025/2026 financial year, commencing 1 July 2025.
Boois added: “Of note is that there will be no deficit in our figures since the council will collect the whole amount proposed through revenues from self-maintenance services (N$324 910 966) and trading services (N$119 577 689), making up the total for the proposed budget, which will also be equal to the expenses to be incurred during the next financial year”.
Under the operational costs amounting to more than N$230 million, she broke it further down to salaries (N$88 951 114), general expenses (N$120 559 815), repairs and maintenance (N$18 664 542) as well as redemption and interest (N$2 748 760).
Key capital projects to be carried out include the construction of sewer ponds (N$30.3 million), purchase of yellow feet heavy-duty vehicles (N$9.6 million), road upgrades (N$14.4 million), land servicing (N$80 million subsidy from the Ministry of Urban and Rural Development), smart prepaid water meters (N$23.5 million subsidy from the Ministry of Urban and Rural Development), water network upgrades (N$6 million) and water meter roll-out (N$1 million).
In addition, waste removal and landfill will cost N$25.4, while streetlights and humps will amount to N$468 000.
Furthermore, social-nature capital projects were listed as well as the construction of a community capacity building, cemetery, innovation centre, cultural village and the Van Rhyn Dam recreational park.In addition, there will be a repair of the old swimming pool and installation of outdoor gyms at community parks.
However, no budgetary provision was attached to these projects.
Mario De Koe, a community member, wanted to know during the question-and-answer session when the old asbestos water pipes would be replaced.
He said the pipes lead to constant water supply interruption for residents.
Meanwhile, former Keetmanshoop mayor Marie Kotze questioned why financial resources were wasted on paying some staff members’ acting allowances for positions which previous incumbents were suspended with full salaries.
In his contribution, Keetmanshoop town council management committee chairperson Easter Isaak informed residents that 1 250 erven will be serviced during the next financial year from the line ministry’s subsidy that the local authority will receive to house residents living in shacks in the informal settlements of the town.
“The council, in collaboration with MTC, also started with the installation of Close-Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras in the town as an intervention to sharpen the security and safety of our residents,” he added
