19 May 2006 Record budget on the cards for Johannesburg Johannesburg's Executive Mayor, Councillor Amos Masondo will next week present the biggest budget in the city's history when he tables his revenue and spending plans for 2006/07. The annual city budget is the product of an extensive citywide consultation process that culminated in the recent Growth and development Summit. "It is now time to tell people what new projects and programmes are planned to improve quality of life in this City of ours, says Councillor Parks Tau Member of the Mayoral Committee for Finance and Economic Development. Continuing he says, "The tabling of a budget clearly indicates that there is a spending plan against which the City can be measured in terms of service delivery". This year's budget, delivered on 24 May will be even bigger than the budget of R18.9billion presented by Mayor Masondo last year. The City successfully spent 95% of its capital budget through various projects and initiatives. According to Clr Tau the city has set itself a number of priorities for the next five years including: Economic growth and job creation Health and community development Housing and services A safe, clean and green City A well managed and governed City and HIV and AIDS As a financial planning tool the budget provides the basis for funding the City's activities for a particular year and shows how these will be paid for. The challenge for Johannesburg is to ensure that not only the quality of existing services is maintained but also that these are expanded to provide new infrastructure. "All this has to be done within a financial framework that allows us to provide affordable services", says Clr Tau. "75% of our income is derived from the payment of rates and services and is ploughed back into the City in the form of subsidies, a social package, libraries, clinics, roads and metro policing", says Clr Tau. The Executive Mayor's budget speech will be broadcast live from 16h00 on three community radio stations. These are Jozi fm 105.8, Eastwave fm 92.2 and Thetha fm 100.6. ENDS Issued by Virgil James Spokesperson Communications Telephone: 407 7226 Facsimile: 403 3494 Cell: 082 467 9415 Email: virgilj@joburg.org.za