THE current rates and taxes receivable in the mining town of Linden cannot suffice for the work of the Linden Town Council, which has a burgeoning housing programme currently ongoing.Interim Management Committee (IMC) Chairman Orrin Gordon has highlighted the need for rates and taxes to be increased in Linden. In an interview with this newspaper, Gordon disclosed, “We have said before that the rates and taxes that had been charged in the community are definitely too low; and because it is that low, it means it is having an impact on the (IMC’s) ability to carry out those functions for the municipality, those statutory functions. In addition to that, the community has grown in size; and because it has grown in size, it means that the amount of work that is required has increased.”

Making a pitch on the functions of the council in light of this proposed increase in the town, Gordon indicated: “Therefore patching of roads and all of that — we have added, along with Central Amelia’s Ward, Block 22 and Blueberry Hill and all those places — which is nearly 100 km of road had been added in Linden, there is need for constant attention. This is because the quality of work that had been done from the inception, that quality of work had not been to the best. So, because it had not been to the best, what has happened is that you have a situation whereby you might repair today or do some patchwork this year, next year you have got to come back again and do some more patchwork, because of the quality of work that has been done.”

What if this situation is not addressed? The IMC Chairman feels, “We have that situation confronting us, and we have had to deal with it, and will continue to do so. So we said valuation and continued valuation — that is one thing we have to do. That stage with the valuation process is where we have gone in the direction whereby we have gone to find a valuator. We decided we are going to pay the valuator, because we know when we get back those taxes it will compensate our efforts.”

Gordon remarked: “But the previous minister rejected that step taken, and then we went in a direction that took over seven to eight months to happen. So we have a problem, a serious problem, and the Valuation Division needs to go under the Minister of Communities rather than stay under the Ministry of Finance, because it really relates more to the Minister of Communities. This is because all the buildings and infrastructure that they will have to do valuation for basically would have been under Ministry of Communities, which also takes care of rates and taxes and so on, not the Valuation Department.

“So I think that the Valuation Department really should be under the Ministry of Communities, and not the Ministry of Finance.

Then we also had a scenario whereby you are having an arrangement which has been taken over by the Minister of Local Government, whereby the Municipal Act says that the Minister of Local Government supports the activities of the municipality, but not dictates and controls. What happened is that the Ministry, from 2007, had been deciding who is going to sign our accounts; and we can’t do that, because that is what they want — a way to decide who will sign on the account. It even got so ridiculous whereby the Minister decides only the Town Clerk and the acting Treasurer can deposit monies for the council.”

The IMC Chairman maintained: “I know anybody can deposit, but it is only by cheque you can withdraw money, and there are systems that are in place for that. So why would you do that? It is because we had threatened to go and open the Toll Booth.

When the question was asked what to do with the money, we said they were micro-managing the operations of the municipality; and we said move that thing, because it is killing local governance.”