The Bulawayo City Council (BCC) says it will start charging services in United States Dollars (USD) citing the ever-weakening local currency, which it says is crippling service delivery.
Ratepayers who want to pay in the local currency will be charged using the prevailing official exchange rate.
The Zimbabwe dollar is currently trading at ZWL$325 to the USD in the official market while in the parallel market exchange rate is around ZWL$450.
“The City of Bulawayo wishes to advise its valued stakeholder, residents and customers that due to prevailing economic conditions, such as changes in the exchange rate there have been substantial increases in prices of key service delivery inputs namely fuel, water and waste water treatment chemicals, medicines, stationery and spare parts among others,” said Bulawayo Town Clerk, Christopher Dube in a statement Tuesday.
“This has rendered the current Council charges inadequate thereby necessitating an urgent alignment of tariffs to input costs in order to alleviate service delivery collapse. Residents are advised that all Council charges have been translated to the USD value on the date of approval of the 2022 budget. The tariffs shall be translated at the ruling rate on the date of billing with effect from 1 June 2022.”
He added: “Residents and stakeholders are encouraged to contact Council Revenue offices for the updated charges on their properties.”
