MUNICIPAL councils cannot live on ratepayers and rates alone, Minister for Local Government Premila Kumar said as she addressed the newly-appointed special administrators yesterday.
She said there was a need for them to start thinking on how they could diversify activities to start generating additional revenue for municipal councils.
“We cannot continue to live on ratepayers and the rates we collect,” Mrs Kumar said.
She said it was also important for municipal councils to consistently submit annual reports.
“Annual reports were one of the key points of accountability, between a council and the community.
“Therefore, councils were required to report annually and it’s a requirement under the Local Government Act.”
Mrs Kumar said ratepayers had the right to know how well municipal councils were performing.
“If annual reports are not filed then something is seriously wrong with the municipal councils.”
Mrs Kumar said there were a lot of the annual reports yet to be submitted.
