Revenue Collection Enhancement Strategies By Local Authorities in Zambia

This publication has been produced by the Local Government Association of Zambia (LGAZ), with support from GIZ. LGAZ serves to generate evidence based information to enable local authorities improve their operations. The publication showcases revenue collection enhancement strategies by selected local authorities in Zambia.

The ability to maximise revenue collection is fundamental for financial stability of local authorities and determines the extent to which they can perform their functions. To this end, the Local Authorities Financial Regulation No. 12 (h) obliges Councils to punctually collect all revenue payable to the Council. Considering that the performance of Councils in revenue collection is not uniform with the Auditor General’s Report for the period 2018 and 2019 indicating a revenue collection rate of 68%, LGAZ undertook an investigation of revenue collection enhancement strategies by local authorities in Zambia in order to generate best practices which could be replicated by other local authorities.

Therefore, this report highlights some of the best practices being implemented by some Councils in Zambia to increase revenue collection. These strategies include, inter alia: Discounts and instalment payment; Public-Private and Public-Public Partnerships; Cashless payment innovations; Involvement of elected officials in revenue collection, Satellite Offices; Streamlining By-laws; Revenue collection task force; Automated billing system; Geographic Information System; Outsourcing and; Commercial ventures.

We hope that you will find the publication useful.