The Ho Municipal Assembly is expecting a total of about GHC6 million from various local revenue streams by the year ending December 2024.
A total revenue of GHC6,556,422.08 is estimated to be accrued from revenue quarters including properties, licenses, fines, and penalties.
The figure represents nearly double of the GHC4.5 million targeted for 2023.
The Assembly is set to rake in GHC651,250 from property rates in 2024, and GHC950,020.97 from lands and royalties.
Property rentals in the municipality are expected to make GHC2,147,503.03 for the Assembly, while various licensing regimes have been projected to accumulate GHC1,272,064.82.
Fees and tolls from commercial activities would bring in GHC1,251,227.26, while penalties and revenues, including those from forests, are expected to total GHC131,056.00.
These came to light at a meeting with internal transport operators in the municipality, in which Mr Dickson Agbenya, the Budget Analyst, said the Assembly would implement various strategies to meet its target.
“Some of our revenue strategies this year is to ensure that we intensify collection on the rent of some of our facilities and property rates. On the property rate, we must move to communities that we haven’t visited before, and also licensing in general,” he said.
The Assembly would ensure that all business operating permits were paid with commercial activities not exempted.
“We are not going to leave any stone unturned. We are planning to meet with scrap dealers and regulate their activities,” Mr Agbenya said.
He spoke about the formation of revenue barriers at vantage locations to reap exportation fees, saying to address challenges to revenue targets, education would be intensified among stakeholders to ensure success.
“The challenge is people do not actually understand that they need to pay their rent and fees. You may even get to the market and you want to collect GHC2 from the market woman and she questions what the money would be used for,” he said.
“Now we have just constructed the fence around the market, which is something they can see physically as giving back to society. We do a lot, but people seem not to be aware”.
Mr Agbenya told the Ghana News Agency that the Assembly, in November 2023, realised about 90 per cent of its GHC4.75 million target for the year, which was an indication of success.
Mr Divine Bosson, the Municipal Chief Executive, said the Assembly remained committed to judicious utilisation of public revenue, and that various projects ongoing in the municipality should encourage stakeholders to willingly contribute to revenue generation.
