The municipal Service Delivery Budget and Implementation Plan (SDBIP) is a detailed plan to be approved by the mayor of a municipality for the implementation of municipal services and the annual budget of the municipality.  The SDBIP must, at a minimum, include projections for monthly revenues by source, and operating and capital expenditures to be made. The SDBIP should also include the municipality's service delivery targets and performance indicators for each quarter. The SDBIP is the 'action plan' of the municipality for seeing to the actualisation of its IDP and annual budget.

Basis in law

The SDBIP is a manifestation of the municipality's legislative and executive authority as provided for in the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 and the Local Government: Municipal Systems Act 32 of 2000. It is, however, explicitly provided for in the Local Government: Municipal Finance Management Act 56 of 2003 (s 53(1)).

Environmental application

None of the environmental management objectives or plans of the municipality can be realised without such objectives or plans forming part of a) the IDP, and b) the annual budget.   The IDP and annual budget must be development-oriented and must be developed in such a way that a) it gives priority to the basic needs of the community and b) is to the advancement of developmental local government. Developmental local government must strike a balance between the social, economic and environmental needs of communities.

Developmental local government entails the realisation of the constitutional environmental right and the constitutional right of access to sufficient water as suggested in s 23(1)(c) of the Local Government Municipal Systems Act 32 of 2000. The SDBIP is the glue that must help ensure that the implementation of the municipal budget serves the environmental objectives in the IDP. It may therefore be said that the environmental relevance of the SDBIP is directly dependent on the environmental objectives and priorities contained in the IDP and in the annual budget of the municipality. The SDBIP serves a particularly important function with regard to the municipal services that are a) natural resource dependent or that may b) have a negative impact on the state of the environment.