Homa Bay among 3 counties spending most revenue on salaries; SRC report
Homa Bay among 3 counties spending most revenue on salaries; SRC report
The Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) has named Taita Taveta, Homa Bay and Machakos among counties spending the largest share of their revenue on paying civil servants.
According to the SRC’s Fourth Quarter Wage Bill Bulletin, Taita Taveta, under Governor Andrew Mwadime, spent 63 percent of its ordinary revenue on personnel emoluments.
Similarly, Homa Bay, led by Governor Gladys Wanga, spent 63 percent of its revenue on personnel emoluments, while Governor Wavinya Ndeti’s Machakos spent 58 percent.
The Public Finance Management (PFM) Act sets a ceiling requiring county governments to keep their expenditure on personnel emoluments below 35 percent of their ordinary revenue.
“In FY 2025/2026, an analysis of the county government expenditure on the wage bill, as a share of ordinary revenue, shows that on average, the county wage-bill-to-revenue ratios remained above the PFM Act, 2012, threshold of 35 percent,” SRC stated.
This means that the three counties are facing the greatest pressure from the cost of paying civil servants, leaving a smaller proportion of their revenue for development projects.
The SRC further revealed that Tana River, Kwale, Nakuru and Uasin Gishu managed to keep their wage-bill-to-revenue ratios below the 35 percent threshold during the first nine months of the 2025/2026 financial year.
Overall, counties spent Ksh171.36 billion on salaries, up from Ksh154.94 billion recorded during a similar period in the 2024/2025 financial year, representing an increase of about Ksh16.42 billion.
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However, the ratio of personnel expenditure to revenue fell from 46.8 percent to 44.12 percent, as revenue growth helped contain higher salary spending.
Nonetheless, SRC noted that the public service wage bill continues to rise, from Ksh1.247 trillion in 2024/2025 to a projected Ksh1.287 trillion in 2025/2026.
SRC attributed the increase to the expansion of the teaching, health and security sectors, as well as periodic salary adjustments aimed at reflecting changes in the cost of living.
“Despite the increase in the nominal wage bill, the wage bill-to-ordinary revenue ratio stood at 41.82 percent in FY 2024/2025, and is projected to fall further to 40.68 percent in FY 2025/2026,” the Commission stated.
“This downward trend reflects the impact of fiscal consolidation measures and improved ordinary revenue collection, indicating progress toward enhancing the sustainability of public service compensation.”
The number of public service workers also rose to 1.07 million in 2025, up from 884,700 in 2020, with TSC remaining the largest employer, followed by ministries and county governments.
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