City Hall misses revenue target by Sh1.7 billion

The Nairobi County Government missed revenue collection target in three months up to September 2019 by Sh1.7 billion, a report has revealed.

City Hall collected Sh1.49 billion in the first quarter, even as own revenue collections dropped by 16 per cent.

The county government had targeted to rake in Sh3.2 billion in the first quarter against an annual target of Sh17.3 billion.

The report, tabled at the County Assembly last week, further indicates that City Hall collected a cumulative Sh780 million from its four major revenue sources. These are rates, single business permits, parking fees and building approvals.

The decline in revenue collected comes just six months after City Hall ditched Jambo Pay as its revenue collection agent after a four-year contract and introduced its own internal electronic payment system.

“The challenges in revenue performance were occasioned by lack of full automation of all revenue streams, offer of waivers and lack of information by payers for all county taxes,” stated the report.

Parking fees raked in Sh361 million in the first three months followed by rates at Sh178 million while building permits netted Sh132 million. Single Business Permits accounted for Sh109 million. 

Billboards and advertisements charges hit Sh202 million against a target of Sh356 million while house rents and liquor licences raked in Sh132 million and Sh62 million respectively.

Moreover, external revenue sources such as equitable share and conditional grants provided only Sh2.7 billion against an expected Sh3.63 billion.

“The performance was largely affected by the delayed remittances of some conditional grants due to late compliance with conditionalities,” added the report.