Johannesburg - Gauteng treasury MEC Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko has ordered all provincial departments to ensure that their wage bill did not exceed the set maximum of 60%, as the provincial government tries to save money delivery demands.
Nkomo-Ralehoko was speaking at the provincial legislature on Tuesday where she delivered her medium-term budget.
She said tough decisions had to be made by departments in light of ever-increasing service delivery needs which coincided with extremely limited resources.
"The 2020 medium-term expenditure framework (METF) resource envelope must begin to confront this challenge, through reorienting from administrative and consumption expenditure to service delivery items and productive assets," Nkomo-Ralehoko said.
She said the rationale behind keeping the wage bill below 60% was to ensure that there was no crowding out of resources which could even lead to lack of money for operational programmes once salaries were paid.
Gauteng's expenditure has been adjusted upwards by R444-million, increasing the provincial budget for the 2019/20 to R133-billion.
The education department received the biggest equitable share of the budget rolled over from the 2018/19 financial year, amounting to R46.2-million, of which R25.5-million is earmarked for school furniture.
Human settlements received a rollover of R26.3-million while the economic development department received R23.7-million.
On additional budget, the health department received the biggest share, at R320-million while the roads and transport department received R91.4-million for the maintenance of provincial roads.