City Hall sets sights on Sh19.8bn own source revenue

City Hall has set an ambitious target of Sh19.8 billion for own-source revenue for the financial year ending June 30, 2022, pointing to an increase in rates and levies.

The collection is to finance the Sh37.3 billion budget for the financial year with the county government set to get only Sh17.3 billion from external sources.

In the financial year ended June 30, 2020, the county government collected Sh8.6 billion against a target of Sh17.2 billion. This saw the county realise a total revenue of Sh20.7 billion against a target of approximately Sh34.2 billion to finance its Sh37.7 billion budget.

According to the County Fiscal Strategy Paper (CFSP), City Hall is looking at enhancing revenue collection from six key own source revenue streams comprising parking fees, rates, single business permit, house rents, building permits and, billboards and adverts to attain the revenue target.

The six dominant revenue streams account for close to 80 percent of the county’s annual own-source revenue.

As part of the ambitious plan, City Hall has set a target of Sh7.62 billion from rates for the financial year while eyeing Sh2.8 billion from single business permits.

Rates collected a paltry Sh1.9 billion against a target of Sh3.9 billion in the last financial year ended June 30, 2020. Single business permits achieved Sh1.6 billion against a target of Sh2.9 billion.

The county government is banking on a rollout of a new valuation roll — replacing the 1982 roll charges — later in the year which will see higher land rates charged on land owners translating to increased revenue.

For parking fees, City Hall has set a target of Sh3.02 billion, an increase of Sh1.52 billion from the Sh1.5 billion collected by the county government last financial year against a target of Sh2.8 billion.