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Patrick Chitumba Midlands Bureau Chief
GWERU City Council has announced plans to retrench half of its 1,300 workforce to reduce its $1,3million salary bill. The chairman of the finance committee, Councillor Albert Chirau said a full council meeting recently approved the move to retrench workers.

He said council will first implement a two- week work schedule that will reduce salaries and if the wage bill remains unstainable, it will then retrench half of its workforce.

“Management will start implementing the half month working calendar for the employees after the adoption of the motion last week,” he said.

Clr Chirau said council was collecting about $1,5million in rates, water bills and other service charges per month so paying $1,3 million in salaries per month was not sustainable given that council has to meet other financial obligations such as paying service providers and funding other development projects.

The finance committee chairperson said council had a salary backlog of three months which it was failing to clear.

“If we adopt the two- week working schedule for the employees, we will need six months to clear the salary backlog,” he said.

In a move aimed at boosting revenue inflows, council has created a debt collection unit whose mandate is to collect outstanding debts from residents and business who owe it $33 million.

Council also extended an olive branch to business by slashing outstanding bills by 50 percent for companies that settle their accounts by the end of this month.

The council reprieve comes barely two years after government ordered local authorities to write off debts to residents, a situation which reduced debts in the Midlands capital to $13 million, but has since ballooned.