" City of Cape Town’s R3 billion bonus from water and sanitation sales" refers:
The article titled "City’s R3 billion bonus" (Friday, December 21), states that the City has benefited by more than R3 billion from punitive levies since July.
The R1bn over-recovery from water and sanitation sales at the end of November 2018 was for the entire financial year to date (from July 1).
However, the journalist used the monthly to-date cumulative amounts and calculated the cumulated effect again. Level 3 tariffs came into effect only on the first of this month and will only fully reflect in the January 2019 data.
The City is expected to under-collect for the rest of the financial year, ending June 2019.
It should be noted that the City is subsidising the water account this year by R1.5bn from the rates account.
The over-recovery of about R1bn also signals that the water and sanitation services going forward will not have to be continually subsidised by the rates account, and other rates-funded services can again obtain that benefit.
* Cllr Xanthea Limberg, Mayoral Committee Member for Water and Waste Services.
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Newspapers.