City Hall plans automating revenue streams as it misses financial target by Sh11b

Nairobi city hall [Edward Kiplimo,Standard]

NAIROBI, KENYA: The county government will use technology to boost revenue collection in the 2018-2019 financial year. The county is hoping to seal internal leaks by automating all its revenue streams.

City Hall is also counting on the recovery of debts - including Sh106 billion worth of land rates owed by the national government - to meet its revenue target for the next financial year.

The county’s financial report released last week showed City Hall missed its 2016-2017 financial target by Sh11 billion, affecting the financing of several development projects.  

Bridging gap

In the county’s annual development plan for the 2018-2019 fiscal year, the city government has outlined measures it intends to implement to bridge the financial gap and even surpass the set revenueestimates.

Top among the measures is the automation of all the 136 county revenue streams. Currently, only 14 revenue streams are fully automated.

These included market rent, daily parking, liquor licensing, e-construction, miscellaneous, fire services, health services, seasonal parking, parking penalties, single-business permit, house rents, land rates, advertisement and regularisation.

The use of e-construction, ad manager, betting and control and mobile applications systems are some of the areas that City Hall intends to capitalise on to ensure that it achieves collection targets.

On debt recovery, the report says the county is owed huge amounts of money and that it will give incentives to those who pay.

The annual county financial report for the 2016-2017 fiscal year revealed that City Hall had projected a revenue collection of Sh34.7 billion but was only able to make Sh23.7 billion from all its revenuestreams.

Land rates, a key revenue earner, brought in Sh2.25 billion against a target of Sh5.5 billion, or just 41 per cent of the projected collection.

Parking fees, which was recently automated, raked in Sh1.97 billion against the projected Sh3.5 billion.

This was attributed to parking defaulters who sometimes colluded with county officials to evade payment.

Single-business permits, another major revenue earner, amounted to Sh1.7 billion against a Sh3.6 billion target.

Dismal performance

This represented a 49.3 per cent performance. Building permits recorded a dismal performance, earning Sh842.8 million against the projected Sh1.7 billion.

Billboards and adverts earned the county Sh720 million but fell short of reaching the Sh1.2 billion target.

The report, which was tabled by County Assembly Deputy Speaker John Kamangu last week, also showed that fire inspection certificates brought in Sh433 million against a projection of Sh180 million.