29/11/2025
🚨 George Residents: Why Are Your Rates So High?
The R-R-R-Rates Riddle: It Starts with an Outdated Grade from COGTA!
Did you know the financial grading for George Municipality—which helps determine how much funding we get from National Government—has NOT been properly updated since 2011? This is a massive problem that forces the municipality to rely too heavily on you to cover the costs.
📉 The Core Problem: Outdated Data vs. Our Growth
The national government's funding formula is currently still using population figures from 2011as the grading to calculate our share of the Equitable Share grant. The data it is based on is wildly inaccurate compared to George today.
| Metric | 2011 (Old Grade Data) | 2022 (Actual Figures) | Difference
Population in 2011 was 193,672 people latest sensus was 294,929 people. A difference of 101,257 more residents.
The number households Households in 2011 were 53,549 where as in the latest census there 85,931 households which show an increase of 32,382 more than a 50% growth.
The Financial Fallout for George Residents
The national funding formula does not recognise that George has grown by over 100,000 people and 32,000 households! This has three key negative consequences for every person and business here:
1. ⬇️ Massive Equitable Share Shortfall
The Equitable Share (LGES) is the national grant designed to help municipalities subsidise basic services for the poor (Indigent Grants).
* What should happen: The funding should be based on the actual number of households and the cost of servicing a city of nearly 300,000 people.
* What is happening: George is receiving a grant calculated for a much smaller city. This creates an immediate shortfall in the municipal budget, meaning we receive millions less than we are actually entitled to.
2. 💸 Underfunded Indigent Grants
The Equitable Share is the lifeline for the Free Basic Services (FBS) provided to our poorest residents (water, electricity, sanitation, etc.).
* Because the grant is too small, the George Municipality must use more of its own locally raised revenue to cover the true cost of indigent support.
* The municipality has to divert funds that should be used for road maintenance, safety, infrastructure upgrades, and other general services just to fund the required support for poor households.
3. 📈 Higher Rates and Tariffs for YOU
This is the most direct consequence: to close the massive funding gap left by the inadequate national grant and the underfunded indigent support, the Municipality has no choice but to push the burden onto paying residents.
* You are effectively paying a subsidy to cover the difference between the national funding we should get and the national funding we actually get.
* This results in a disproportionate increase in your Property Rates and the Tariffs you pay for water, electricity, and refuse removal, making George more expensive than it should be.
💡 The Solution: A Correct Grading
George Municipality desperately needs COGTA to complete a new grading that correctly reflects its current status as a large, rapidly growing regional hub. A correct grading would increase our Equitable Share, alleviate the strain on our operational budget, and reduce the pressure on your monthly rates and tariffs.
George Municipality has been lobbying COGTA to urgently finalise the correct municipal grading for George based on current (post-2022 Census) data since the information was released and are still waiting for the correction!
