Limbe City Council nets 101.55% recovery rate in 2013

The Limbe City Council has made history by netting a 101.55% recovery rate in the 2013 fiscal year.

The Government Delegate to the Limbe City Council Andrew Monjimba Motanga made the revelation that the 2013 fiscal year was a very successful one for the Limbe City Council in the deliberating chambers of the Limbe City last Friday during the First Ordinary Session of the Limbe City Council for the financial year 2014, dedicated to the examination of the administrative, management and stores accounts for the year 2013.

According to Motanga, “Let me say straight away that 2013 was a very positive year in terms of our operations. During the year in review, we recorded a 101.55 percent revenue recovery rate, a milestone achievement considering the very difficult moments we had in 2012.”

Specifically, he said in 2013 the council budgeted Five Billion, Five Hundred And Six Million, Eight Hundred And Sixty Seven Thousand Nine Hundred Francs CFA (5,506,867,900FCFA) and that a total of Five Billion, Five Hundred and Eighty Nine Million, Seven Hundred and Ninety One Thousand and Sixty Eight Francs CFA (5,589,791,068FCFA) was successfully recovered giving a recovery percentage of 101.55 percent.

He explained that, the initial budget voted by Senior Councilors was Five Billion, five Hundred Million Francs CFA (5,500,000,000FCFA), adding that, an additional Six Million Eight Hundred and Sixty Seven Thousand, Nine Hundred Francs CFA (6,867,9000FCFA) was voted as to incorporate decentralized credits from the Ministry of Women’s Empowerment and the Family.

That said, the council had excess revenue over expenditure in 2012 which amounted to Fifteen Million Two Hundred And Seventy Thousand Seven Hundred And Sixty One Thousand Francs CFA (15, 270, 761FCFA) giving a gross budget of Five Billion Five Hundred And Six Million Eight Hundred And Sixty Seven Thousand Nine Hundred Francs CFA.

As far as recurrent revenue is concern, the City Council Boss said out of the Five Billion Five Hundred and Eighty Nine Thousand, Seven Hundred and Ninety One Thousand And Sixty Eight Francs CFA recovered, Two Billion Five and Seven Million Seven Hundred and Nine Thousand Four Hundred and Ninety One Francs CFA (2,507,709,491FCFA) was from Tax revenue and that the Additional Council Taxes amounted to Two Billion Eight Hundred Sixty eight Million Eight Hundred and Ten Thousand Six Hundred and Thirty and Thirty One Francs CFA (2,868,810,631FCFA).

“Indirect Council Tax brought in One Hundred and Seventy Three Million eight Hundred and Fifty Six Thousand Three Hundred and Seven Francs CFA (173,856,307FCFA). Local Development Tax gave FCFA 748,642; Management of Land and Services gave 12,960,350FCFA while other proceeds and miscellaneous gains fetched FCFA. 10,868,000.

The Common Decentralisation Recurrent Fund amounted to 6,867,900FCFA while other financial revenue gave 5,331,000FCFA,” he said.

The council in 2013 forecasted expenditure worth Five Billion Five Hundred and Six Million Eight Hundred and Sixty Seven Thousand Nine Hundred Francs CFA (5,506,867,900FCFA) with 6,867,900FCFA of this amount being additional expenditure voted while Five Billion, Three Hundred and Forty Five Million, Six Hundred and Seventy Three Thousand, Eight Hundred and Eighty three Francs CFA (5,345,673,883FCFA) was actually spent thus giving a percentage of 97.07.

Meanwhile the total recurrent expenditure for 2013 stood at Three Billion One Hundred and Eighty Three Million Four Hundred and Fourteen Thousand Seven Hundred and Sixty-three Francs CFA (3,183,414,763FCFA). This amount according to the Government Delegate was spent on materials and supplies, staff costs, taxes and duties, financial costs, subsidies and transfers as well as expenses and sundry losses.

Investment expenditure for the year in review amounted to Two Billion One Hundred and Sixty Two Million, Two Hundred and Fifty Nine Thousand One Hundred and Twenty Francs CFA (2,162,259,120FCFA). This amount was involved expenditure on land acquisition, tangible assets, equipment and furniture, works, purchase of transport equipment, development of gardens and open spaces, construction of the Limbe City Council Technical Service and a Fire Fighting Brigade in Mile 2, Hygiene and Sanitation with HYSACAM etc.

Summarily, the Government Delegate said in all total revenue was FCFA 5,859,791,068 as against expenditure of FCFA 5,345,637,883 indicating an excess of Two Hundred and Forty Four Million, One Hundred and Eleven Thousand One Hundred and Eighty Five Francs CFA (244,117,185FCFA) which was carried over to 2014 as reserves earmarked for overheads.

It is because of this that the government delegate said “From the foregoing we can say that the year 2013 was a particularly favourable year to us. I want to deeply appreciate my close collaborators and the other staff who contributed to our success story in 2013. I also want to thank other state departments especially the taxation and treasury departments in Limbe, Buea and Yaounde for facilitating our work.”

This pat on the back according to Motanga should not make the council sleep on our laurels; rather it is a call for everyone to work harder so that they can realize more in order to meet up with the needs and aspirations of the population.

Motanga further saluted all the stakeholders of this history-rich municipality for their wonderful support and enthusiastic participation at the first edition of the Limbe Festival of Arts and Culture, Limbe FESTAC, which is earning the council a lot of positive reviews in and out of the country.

Speaking about flood, the Government Delegate said “I know it is not easy for those living in flood-prone areas in our municipality during this period. We share in their pain and discomfort. They should rest assured that we are doing everything possible to minimize floods in our municipality.

The solution to floods in our municipality, as we have repeatedly said, cannot be provided by the City Council alone. Nonetheless, we have not folded our arms as we are working with other institutions to see how we can minimize the problem.”

Adoption and resolutions

At the end of the examination of the various budgets, the Senior Councilors unanimously adopted the accounts.

Meanwhile a deliberation to set a commission to award the cleanest quarter was passed and adopted by the Senior Councilors.

A deliberation by the City Council for the contracting of the parking lots was tabled but rejected on grounds that the laws do not permit contracting for council revenue collection.

Another deliberation that came up was a proposal to adopt a slogan for the City’s identity.

The slogan “Limbe the town of friendship and many opportunities” was adopted by the senior councilors.

Zang just back from abroad

The session was presided over by the Senior Divisional Officer for Fako Zang III who just returned from his leave abroad.

He said 93% of the revenue collected was from state sources hence low concentration on local revenue sources.

He adviced the council to exploit local revenue sources, fight urban disorder, promote sanitation and hygiene, improve supply of water, electricity, remove semi permanent structures along major streets, set up a commission to take record on the building rates in Limbe and fight clandestine transportation as well as organize the motor bike sector.

The Senior Divisional Officer kept on making allusions with the way cities and streets are constructed in Europe and America where he just visited.