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George residents will soon have to dig a little deeper into their own pockets to ensure the town's infrastructure is well maintained.
In the town's 2014/15 draft budget the municipality made provision for a R25 infrastructure levy on rateable properties, over and above normal rates, to supplement its capital replacement reserve.
"This is to finance our capital investment and renewal programme," George mayor Charles Standers said.
Municipal spokesman Chantel Edwards-Klose said the levy would boost town coffers by more than R14-million a year.
Although the municipality had been criticised by residents about he lack of community involvement in the discussions about the levy, ratepayers said they would be willing to fork out the money as they had become accustomed to reliable service and infrastructure.
Local residents' association chairman Pieter Naude said the levy "seemed to be the only way to raise sufficient funds to enable the municipality to fulfill its maintenance programme".
"In comparison with other cities we have a very well functioning municipality, we just need to ensure that the funds are correctly applied to improve infrastructure and replace where necessary. The municipality has a good track record when it comes to service delivery, so there is some level of confidence," Naude said.
"We [residents] are however unhappy with the way this levy was announced to the public. The draft budget was the first we heard of it. They should have involved ratepayers in discussions and explained to them more carefully what it would entail."
"The George Municipality Budget Committee has in the discussions around the draft 2014/15 budget, debated at length the need to maintain George's infrastructure through on-going refurbishment and renewal. This is a major and ongoing challenge not only for the George Municipality but for all local authorities," Edwards-Klose said.
"As the water and sewerage networks of George age, the municipality needs to extend the useful life of our assets and undertake maintenance and upgrades to ensure a reliable operation. The same applies to the electricity network, the refuse operation and the roads network."
Standers added that the residents had become accustomed to reliable services and that the municipality wished to see the continuation of a supply of "such high standards of service".
The proposal is open for comment, before council makes a final decision. Edwards-Klose said the municipality would also release more specific details about what the funds would be used for once the final decision had been made.
