Municipal Matters: What is a SDBIP?

The Service Delivery and Budget Implementation Plan details the implementation of service delivery and the budget for the financial year in compliance with the Municipal Finance Management Act. The SDBIP serves as a contract between the administration, the council and the community, expressing the objectives set by the council as quantifiable outcomes that can be implemented by the administration over the next twelve months. The SDBIP facilitates the process of holding management accountable for their performance. It provides the basis for measuring performance in the delivery of services.

The MFMA requires the following to be included in the SDBIP of a municipality:

• Monthly projections of each source of revenue to be collected.
• Monthly projections of each vote’s expenditure (operating and capital) and revenue.
• Quarterly projections of each vote’s service delivery targets and performance indicators.
• Information on expenditure and service delivery in each ward.
• Detailed capital works plans allocated by the wards over three years.

The MFMA requires the municipality to compile an SDBIP for submission to the executive mayor. MFMA Circular No. 13 further states that “… being a management and implementation plan (and not a policy proposal), the SDBIP is not required to be approved by council …”

That said, an SDBIP must still be made public by the mayor no less than a month into the new financial year as a matter of procedure.

READ:

• 6 steps a municipality must follow in preparing the budget
• The 5 Steps of an IDP
• The IDP and public participation
• What is an IDP?

These projections are then set against the actual performance of the municipality as detailed in the monthly, quarterly, and mid-year financial and performance reports.

To better understand the Service Delivery and Budget Implementation Plan download a PDF explainer here found on the Dullah Omar Institute’s website.