The Annual County Governments Budget Implementation Review report has revealed a decline in local revenue collection for the 2016/2017 quarter fiscal year. [Photo/ capitalfm.co.ke]
Garissa County is among counties in North Eastern that have reported a drop in revenue collection.According to the Annual County Governments Budget Implementation Review report, there is a decline in local revenue collection for the 2016/2017 quarter fiscal year.Garissa County reported a revenue decline of 28.2 percent from Sh105.9 million in 2015/2016 financial year to Sh81.9 million in the quarter year of 2016/2017 which was against the annual local revenue target of Sh350 million.“The County received Sh6.2 billion from revenue raised nationally, Sh499.8 million as total conditional allocations and raised Sh82 million from local revenue sources,” the annual report stated.Garissa further recorded a 21.6 percent increase on its wage bill which amounted to Sh2.8 billion in the 2016/2017 financial year from Sh2.3 billion last year which represented 38.7 percent of the overall expenditure.“This high wage bill is likely to affect implementation of development projects. To address this, the County Public Service Board should establish an optimal staffing structure in order to ensure a sustainable wage bill,” the report stated.Mandera County recorded a drop in revenues from Sh88.23 million in Financial Year 2015/2016 to Sh55.84 million in Financial Year 2016/2017 which represented a 21 percent of the annual local revenue target of Sh265.64 million.Mandera received Sh9.6 billion from the national revenue kitty, Sh325.5 million as total conditional allocations and was able to raise Sh55.8 million from local revenue sources.In Wajir County, there was a reported 5.6 percent decline in revenue collection from Sh80.44 million in the year 2015/2016 to Sh75.91 million in 2016/2017 against the annual local revenue target of Sh230.12 million.“During the year, Wajir County received Sh7.8 billion as the equitable share of the revenue raised nationally, Sh237.66 million as total conditional allocations and raised Sh75.91 million from local revenue sources,” read the report in part.