Nairobi Residents to Pay More for Fire, Garbage, Pets In Proposed Bill

By Wilkister Alao / Published July 17, 2019 | 12:59 pm

The Nairobi County administration now wants Nairobi residents to pay for fire certificates, garbage collection and inspection of the health of their pets in a bid to increase the county’s revenue collection.

The Nairobi City County’s Finance Bill 2019 proposed this and if it is approved, the estimated 1.5 million households in the city will be required to pay 2000 shillings annually for the fire certificate and 300 and 600 shillings garbage collection fee for the middle class and high-end estates respectively.

For those who keep pets, a fee of 1000 shillings meant for the pet’s health inspection will be required to be paid to the county government.

The county government is looking to raise 35.2 billion shillings revenue for its annual budget and it intends to do so by imposing these and other taxes on its residents and companies.

From the fire certification fee, the county government will raise at least 3 billion shillings if all the 1.5 families in Nairobi pay the fee.

This proposal comes shortly after it was established that under the same law, the county government will double parking fees to 400 shillings per day.

According to Nairobi Finance and Economic Planning Executive, Charles Kerich, most Nairobi residents enjoy the services without paying for it and as a result, the county collects less and therefore strains to achieve some of its goals.

“The demand for services by far outmatches the ability of the county to deliver, partly because a majority of its population do not contribute any amount as fees or charges for services they enjoy,” he said.

Other charges

Under the new bill proposed by the county administration, both public and private primary and secondary schools will be required to pay a fee of between 3000 and 20,000 shillings depending on the number of registered students.

Universities in the city will have to pay between 20,000 and 200,000 shillings depending on the number of registered students in the institutions.

To get booklets on medical examinations at county hospitals, Nairobi county residents and non-residents who use these county facilities will part with 2000 shillings.

The county also seeks to increase occupation certificates for buildings to between 15,000 and 30,000 shillings which may lead to an increase in rent charges.

Gas vendors will pay a flat rate of 30,000 shillings as fire certificate fee up from the 4,500 shillings they currently pay. Fast food joints will pay 12,000 shillings for the same.

Nairobi County’s own revenue collection increased by 7.9 percent in the financial year ended last month as it managed to raise 8.24 billion shillings own revenue, according to the Controller of Budget data.