We are all no doubt aware that there is a shortfall in our expectations regarding to what we would like to see happening in our area, in so far as crime, cleanliness, parks, litter, homelessness, etc.
We can see there is a need for ‘top up’ of these services, and this is where a CID comes in.
CID – stands for City Improvement District, otherwise known as a Special Rating Area.
There are currently 51 CID’s in the City of Cape Town
A formal CID is effectively a partnership between the City of Cape Town and a Civic NPC (represented by a board of directors) in which 60,1% of residents have passed a resolution, after a public participation process, in which residents are shown what can be achieved, followed up by business plans and applications with the City. In this partnership, all home owners are charged an additional amount monthly which appears on their Rates account, which then gets paid to the Civic NPC to top up services as per a Business Plan provided.
Effectively this gives us access to much more monies and the ability to achieve our goals much faster as we will have the financial resources to do so. Approximately 70 % of the Budget goes towards crime-fighting measures.
What we as a Civic non profit are doing at the moment is trying to achieve our goals, as per our constitution, by asking our members to contribute collectively a small portion per month. At the moment this is voluntary.
We will continue in this way, basically as a voluntary CID, until we have reached a capacity and an outcomes where our residents can see the benefit of having a strong civic association that is active, where we can show results achieved, and have established our presence and viability in our area.
We are doing all of this for you, the residents.
Effectively we are asking you now to contribute an average of R20,83 per month, and we are thus trickling along as all projects are dependant on funds. We have come a long way already in 2024, with your support.
Should we really want to achieve our goals, your contributions in line with a CID budget would probably increase in the region of R200 per month based on a R3 million home. This will give us enough funds to be able to do what we need immediately.
This is our long term vision.
The following article is by the City of Cape Town and gives more information on a CID