On Wednesday, Entebbe Division ‘A’ fulfilled the annual ritual of reading and approving the financial budget in a fully packed Division ’A’ boardroom that consisted of LC3 councilors and members of the Public interested in keeping abreast with the affairs of Division ‘A’ .
Divisional Chairman, Michael Mutebi who also doubles as secretary for finance and planning played his role and read the budget indicating that the Shs2bn will address among others; Road Maintenance, Health and Environment, Council property and Maintenance, Education, poverty Eradication, Agricultural Production and productivity, Human capital and skills development.
The Shs2bn will be funded by total local revenue amounting to Shs 1, 899, 116, 392 bn while local transfers namely Grants from council will contribute Shs281, 394, 394 and unconditional grants will contribute Shs52,000,000.
Mutebi thanked Back packers, Imperial Resort and Botanical Beach Hotel, Windsor Lake Victoria Hotel and Golf View Hotel for paying their taxes in time and called on all other hotel owners to also pay their taxes in time so as to enable council perform it’s activities.
Mutebi also noted key challenges that hinder the Division from realizing and fulfilling it’s budget priorities include; Limited Sources of Revenue, uncollected taxes like ground rent, local service tax and property rates, inadequate facilitation given to staff members and councilors, High expectation by the community and political pronouncements.
Meanwhile Sebabi Michael, the Division ‘A’ speaker, urged the councilors to work hand in hand with the technical staff to ensure that the budget is realized.
Fellow councilors I appeal to you to be part of the budget, work hand in hand with the technical staff and always sensitize your electorate on the importance of paying taxes because if taxes aren’t paid the budget mayn’t be realized. It is vital to study and understand the budget because we have had instances where councilors have misinterpreted the budget, Ssebabi stressed.
He added.
Be (councilors) at the forefront of the budget and work out strategies to ensure that corrupt tendencies don’t occur during revenue collection because Division A has lost a lot of revenue due to corruption.
Budgetary Allocation for the Shs2bn 2017/18 financial Budget.
Works and Technical – Shs220, 327, 260
Community Based Services – Shs38, 200,000
Health – Shs313, 163,072
Education and Sports – Shs18, 603, 000
Veterinary – Shs15, 750,000
Fisheries – Shs2,500,000
Production – Shs30,795, 364
Statutory – Shs310, 388,148
Finance – Shs1,103,151,719
Administration – Shs173,854,223
