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He said this was despite the payment of $19 646 during the same month.

Mr Ndimande also reported that he received a letter from the Ministry of Finance advising the council of the possibility for local authorities to off-set debts against what Zimra owed.

The director of engineering services, Engineer Simela Dube, weighed in saying it was prudent for council to establish the amount of money it owes Government and match it against what the Government owes council.

Dr John Ferguson, the councillor for Ward Five, said in the event of any discussion with Minister Biti, council should bring to light the period of the debts.

A majority of Government departments owe thousands of dollars to council with the Ministry of Water Resources Development and Management among the top. It owes $2,8 million.

The Ministry of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture comes second at $758 000 followed by the Ministry of Home Affairs at $754 000.

Ministries of Defence and Local Government, Rural and Urban Development owe $191 000 and $190 000 respectively.
Domestic consumers constitute the largest chunk of debtors to council owing $59,8 million while industrial and commercial owe $22,3 million.

The year 2012 was dominated by strikes by council workers as the local authority was struggling to pay them salaries on time.

Zesa also cut power supplies to council’s City Hall and Tower Block offices over unpaid power bills that had increased to $24 million as of October last year.

Statistics from the council’s October 2012 report also show that the local authority owed $19 million to the Local Authorities’ Pension Fund (LAPF), $7 million to Zimra and $4,9 million in outstanding salaries.

In the same month council had a debt of $4 million in medical aid expenses, $5,7 million to financial institutions and $1,5 million to trade creditors.