Laikipia County reports 35pc growth in revenue collection

Laikipia Governor Ndiritu Muriithi on September 6, 2018. FILE PHOTO | NMG

What you need to know:

  • The report indicates a 35 per cent growth in revenue collection between July and December last year compared with the same period during the 2017/2018 financial year.
  • Sh285.7 million was collected between July and December 31 2018, compared with Sh211.1 million realised in the same period the previous year.

Revenue collection in Laikipia County has been on an 18-month sustained growth, the county revenue board’s 2018/2019 half year financial report shows.

The report indicates a 35 per cent growth in revenue collection between July and December last year compared with the same period during the 2017/2018 financial year.

Sh285.7 million was collected between July and December 31 2018, compared with Sh211.1 million realised in the same period the previous year.

The county is among few devolved units that have regularly released periodical financial reports in a move intended to promote accountability with the sustained growth in revenue collection driven by automation, said Governor Ndiritu Muriithi.

Revenue streams that have shown a huge growth include land rates, which has improved from Sh6.4 million to Sh21.3 million (232 per cent); county natural resources from Sh17.3 million to Sh35.2 million representing a growth of 102 per cent; parking fees from Sh23.7 million to Sh33.8 million (42 per cent) and collection from hospitals from Sh109 million to Sh115.2 million with six per cent increase.

During the 2016/2017 financial year, the county collected Sh468 million while in the 2017/2018 financial year collections were Sh608 million.

Sh800 million target

This year, the county revenue board targets to collect Sh800 million, said Mr Muriithi.

“This growth is attributable to organisational restructuring, automation of revenue collection and implementation of performance-based management.

"All the unstructured revenues have been fully automated including parking, markets and cess,” the governor said in a statement, adding that invoicing and payment for structured revenue streams are done online.

“This growth is also a statement of the confidence taxpayers have in my administration as we work towards providing services to the people.

"Despite registering this steady growth in revenue, we have not burdened our citizens by increasing or introducing additional taxes,” he added.

The governor said mapping of all revenue sources had been done to enable proper consolidation of data for all taxpayers.

PAYE Tax Calculator

Note: The results are not exact but very close to the actual.