The City of Cape Town Draft Budget 2025-2026 is available for comment until 16:30 on Friday, 2 May 2025; and until Thursday, 17 April 2025 for the proposed amendments to the 2022-2027 Integrated Development Plan (IDP).

Total Budget – R84,1 bn for 2025/26

A budget of R 84.1 billion will be spent in the metropolitan area to ensure that services are maintained, improved and expanded, that capital projects are rolled out and that the IDP is implemented.

Budget Summary & Documentation

The City of Cape Town’s budget reflects its key policy decisions and priorities, determines rates increases and indicates where money will be spent on programmes and services. View the full Draft Budget 2025/26 with associated documentation on the City’s website. For a summary of the budget, see the presentation and the advert (English | Afrikaans | isiXhosa).

The documents can also be accessed on the City website from 28 March 2025 at www.capetown.gov.za/budget.

Changes to Tariff Structure based on Property Value

The 2025/26 Draft Budget also includes key changes to the City’s Tariff structure, as outlined by Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis below, bringing “meaningful relief to lower income households in particular”, while facilitating to “help the City to invest in infrastructure and service delivery long into the future”.

These changes include tariffs for electricity, water & sanitation, and refuse.

View all tariff information here.

Property Rates Increase of 7.96%

While Cape Town sees a rates increase of 7.96%, Cape Town’s property rates remain the lowest across South Africa, for residential, commercial and industrial property.

This increase, says Lewis-Hill is “mainly to fund a massive new roll-out of over 500 additional law-enforcement and metro police officers to every ward in our City”.

Rates & Tariff Calculator

You can also use the City’s calculator to work out an estimate of your monthly rates and tariffs. This allows customers to capture their 2024/25 municipal bill details to estimate the 2025/26 expected monthly bill.

Comment on the Draft Budget by Friday, 2 May 2025

Comments can be submitted via email at budget.comments@capetown.gov.za, online at www.capetown.gov.za/collaborate; or www.capetown.gov.za/HaveYourSay or at sub-council offices.