Revenue Decline in Urban Local Authorities

The research analysed the sources of revenue and the causes and effects of revenue decline in urban local authorities. The research was prompted by the evident decline in revenue inflows in most of the urban local authorities in Zimbabwe as the traditional sources of revenue have gone dry and this has heavily impacted on their performance. To achieve the objectives of the study, literature sources were reviewed and both secondary and primary sources were employed to obtain data on the subject under study. The study highlighted and analysed the various views of other authors on the sources of revenue for local authorities, and the causes and effects of revenue decline in local authorities. The study also presented empirical evidence and global experiences in terms of revenue collection. The research targeted the population consisting of members of the Caretaker council, Management, Workers committee and Gweru residents and ratepayers association. A sample size of 39 participants was chosen for the study through judgmental and simple random sampling. The findings of the research were presented in the form of tables, pie charts and graphs.