Beverly Bizeki
Masvingo city council has proposed to introduce a fire levy in the 2024 budget to cover up costs of the fire rescue services amid other adjustments to be made in the budget.
This was revealed in the 2024 budget consultation report for stakeholders and residents under which council said the levy is to finance capitalization and operations of the fire rescue services.
“We are proposing introducing a fire levy in 2024 to finance the capitalization and operations of the fire rescue services. This proposal is informed by the high cost of equipment which we are failing to fund from the rates account,” reads the report.
The proposed levies for residential stands are US$ 1.50 and US$3 for commercial stands.
“The council’s fire brigade covers the whole province and beyond and given the critical nature of this operation, we are proposing the following fire levy beginning January 2024 that is US$ 1,50 for residential stands, US$3 for commercial, industrial, institutional stands while fuel depots, filling stations, LPG depots and LPG retail stands,” reads the report.
Residents will also bear an increase on their bills as council is proposing increasing the refuse tariff from US$2.36 in 2023 to US$2.50 in 2024.
“In line with the cost-recovery principle, we propose to increase the refuse tariff from US$2.36 per bin collection to US$2.50,” reads part of the report.
Council claims to have a deficit of US$0.14 as the cost per bin collection after VAT is US$2.50.
Levying residents in town for fire sounds good. But levying plot owners without explaining how firebregade would reach remote areas to put out fire is unfair in my view.. We have seen fires consuming houses outside town without rescue.