The number of counties that met public finance rules on wage spending as a percentage of revenue jumped to 12 in the year to June 2025 from three in 2024, indicating improving fiscal discipline in the devolved units and higher own source revenue collection.
The Public Finance Management (County Government) Regulations, 2015 requires that expenditure on wages and benefits for public officers shall not exceed 35 percent of the total revenues. The measure was put in place to protect ability of counties to offer critical services to the public such as healthcare.
