Comment on 2026-27 draft budget

Although the increases in tariffs are reasonable compared to the 2025-26 budget, the reality is that due GV2025 increases in property values many households will experience above-inflation increases. This is because the 10.2% decrease in the rand rate for property rates does not back out the percentage increases that many households have seen in their property valuation. For properties valued at R4 million and above, increases are generally above 20%. In addition, because new valuations have moved properties into higher tariff brackets for fixed charges for water, sewerage and city-wide cleaning, households will see above-inflation increase in these fixed charges as well. This shows that the City supports a tariff structure that contains inherent bracket-creep for ratepayers. Because of last year’s above-inflation increases due to manipulation of fixed charges to be based on property value, coupled with the proposed 2026-27 above-inflation increases, the cumulative increase in municipal bills over a 12 to 13-month period is very high indeed. Some people can expect more than 70% increase from July 2025 to July 2026. My own experience will be a 45% increase over this period. By introducing a ceiling for increases over this period the City could protect residents from such high increases, particularly pensioners earning above the R27000 rebate qualifier.