• Those with cats and dogs will be required to pay a new health inspection fee of Sh1,000
• Supermarkets will be charged for fire certificates depending on their size
Image: FILE
Nairobi residents will have to pay to keep pets and get fire inspection certificates.
These are part of the proposals the county government has made to finance its Sh35.2 billion recurrent and development expenditures in the 2019-20 financial year. Of the budget, the county targets Sh17.32 billion in revenue collection.
Those with cats and dogs will be required to pay a new health inspection fee of Sh1,000.
According to the Finance Bill 2019, each household will be required to pay Sh2,000 per annum for a fire certificate.
From 2013, when devolution came into effect, to February this year, the county has collected Sh1.63 billion from the fire inspection revenue stream.
The real estate sector, insurance and retail businesses have been targeted for fire certificate revenues.
Insurance companies will be charged Sh12,000 for medium firms and Sh25,000 for large ones, up from Sh4,500 and Sh12,000 in the previous financial year, respectively.
Small fish and chips cafes will pay Sh4,500, the same as last year's, but the larger cafes will have to pay Sh6,000, which is double compared to what they have been paying.
Supermarkets will be charged for fire certificates depending on their size. They will no longer pay the annual flat rate of Sh25,000.
Hypermarkets will part with Sh40,000, while the mega ones will pay Sh30,000 per year. The bill states that the fire inspection certificates will be charged per visit.
Insurance companies will be charged Sh12,000 for medium firms. Last year, they paid Sh4,500. Large firms will pay Sh25,000 from Sh12,000 paid last year.
Bars and restaurants will also have to dig deeper into their coffers as the county is intending to double its charge. Medium-sized bars and restaurants will pay Sh12,000 from the previous Sh4,500.
Bars with 100 seats will still pay Sh4,500 and larger ones will pay Sh25,000 — Sh19,000 more than the previous charge.
Gas filling stations have also had their charges increased from Sh25,000 to Sh100,000.
Small-scale gas sellers will pay a flat rate of Sh30,000, from Sh4,500 in the previous year.
Petrol station owners have, however, been relieved the burden of paying the standard fee of Sh100,000 annually for fire certificate. The county has instead classified them into small, medium and large, which will be charged Sh12,000, Sh25,000 and Sh50,000 respectively.
For the first time, professional agencies will pay for occupancy. Medium buildings will pay Sh6,000 to get certificates and bigger ones will pay Sh20,000.
(Edited by F'Orieny)