Johannesburg remains one of the most affordable cities to live in. The city offers property owners value for money in terms of property rates tariff – in comparison to other metros in the country.
The City of Johannesburg recently passed the lowest property rates tariff increase of a mere 3.8% for the 2024/25 financial year along with its Budget. This effectively makes the city’s property rates tariff one of the lowest property rates increases amongst other metros. The electricity tariff increased by 12.7%. Both water and sanitation tariff increased by 7.7%, while refuse tariff increased by 5.9%. Water and electricity increases are heavily influenced by bulk purchases from Rand Water and Eskom.
Other big metros have this year increased their property rates by 5% and above. The City of Cape Town has increased its property rates by 5.7%, City of eThekwini increased by 6.5% and the City of Tshwane by 5%.
Since Covid-19, the city has over the years kept the property rates tariff way below 5%. Confronted by a limited budget, declining revenue sources and increasing needs from more than 6 million of its residents, the city is strategically using its limited resources to also shield, particularly, the poor and hard-pressed households.
Moreover, the city’s progressive property rates policy demonstrates a city that really cares about its indigent residents. Special attention is given to indigent property owners, including pensioners, child-headed households, women, and unemployed homeowners.
Last year, the city gave more than 21 000 pensioners rebates on their residential properties. This means going forward, some pensioners won’t be paying anything on their rates portion of the municipal bill, while some have received 50% reduction on their property rates depending on qualifying criteria. Furthermore, the city also provides water and electricity subsidies to unemployed individuals and those with limited income. There are many other social relief programmes which ensure that many of the residents of the city don’t go to bed hungry. These are some of the social relief programmes which are made possible by the continuous payment of municipal services.
An independent 2022/2023 Service Delivery Satisfaction Survey which gauged the level of satisfaction among Johannesburg residents, has found that about 61% of residents were generally happy with the services they receive from the city. The satisfaction levels have increased by 2% from the previous year.
By continuing to pay for municipal services, we can all ensure that Johannesburg remains sustainable for generations to come.
Kgamanyane Maphologela, Director: Communications and Stakeholder Engagement Group Finance Department, City of Johannesburg