THE Mayor and City Council is responsible for, inter alia, the collection and disposal of garbage in the City of Georgetown. The council manages this responsibility through a contractual arrangement with three Waste Management companies – Puran Bros, Crawler and Wheeler, and Cevons Waste Management Co. The council used that arrangement, which was fairly efficient, to collect domestic waste from all local communities once per week and commercial waste twice per week from the central business sections of the city.
However, some week ago, the contractors suspended their services because of payment issues. As a result, there is a negative garbage situation in the capital city. We believe that, the situation is part of a wider and more fundamental challenge facing the council – money or the lack of it. The council has no money.
The council could not honour its financial obligation to the contractors because its anticipated revenues, for that period did not materialised. We are about $400 million short of our expected inflows for this period. General rates accounts for about 80 per cent of the council’s revenue. Many property-holders have been defaulting on their payment and there are many absentee landlords.
Some have contended that we have not been doing enough to collect outstanding amounts. It is not that we have not been going after defaulters. We have a number of property owners in court, our treasury has been working overtime to contact defaulting home owners, and serve demand notices. We have recruited additional staff, in that department, to boost our efforts. We have also encouraged those property owners who are having difficulties to talk to us about a payment plan. We have had tremendous assistance from Mr. Keith Burrowes, Chairman of the Implementation Committee. We have been seeing very modest results, not enough to sustain and elevate the quality of our service delivery but there has been some positive movement.
Add to that, the fact that we have not had valuation of properties since 1997. Many properties have been changed from domestic dwelling to commercial use but we could not know unless we do a physical check of all buildings, in all the wards, which is very time consuming and again requires money. As a result, people continue to get away with short changing the council, paying 40 per cent instead of 250 per cent of the assessed value of their properties, while shouting that the council is incompetent.
Some defaulters seem to have missed the point that their not paying rates or the correct amount is affecting the ability of the city to fulfill its responsibility to citizens. Unless the council collects its rates it cannot provide services. Of course, there are other factors which affect the municipality’s ability to perform, and yes, we can do some things better, we have been trying, but the bottom line is the bottom line. There is no other way.
Even if the council were to collect all of the rates owed to it, the municipality would still fall far short of the amount needed to manage the city and to provide services. Five years ago, the then chief city engineer was asked to put up a paper on the mix of things and cost required to effectively overhaul the drainage system in Georgetown. He came up with a figure of one billion dollars. Our total budget this year is $1.7 billion. Looking at it, the budget could be easily utilised to deliver one service to citizens. We provided a plethora of services and facilities to the city. Clearly then, the council needs to broaden its revenue base.
Again, some services are heavily subsidised by the council. For example, under our arrangement residents in the La Penitence communities are paying $71 for clearance once per week per household. However, with the private contractors they are paying $500 – $700 every time they need their bin emptied.
General rates for an average three bedroom house in that same area is about $4,000 per year. When one does the mathematics one will realise that if that situation continues some property-owners will pay much more to collect their garbage in six months than the amount of rates they pay to the council in a year. Again, this is just one of the services we provide to citizens.
Add to that, the fact that there are areas within the city which are not within the repose of the council, we collect no rates from them, yet those communities benefit from municipal services in direct and indirect ways. Sophia is one such area. Then there are squatters, who are paying nothing to the council but benefit from our services. We cannot just remove them because there are all kinds of socio-economic and other human rights problems associated with their removal. As a result, they get to stay on the city’s reserves and indulge in unfriendly environmental practices.
Notwithstanding, since the contractors withdrew their services, the Solid Waste Management Department, and the City Engineer’s Department have been mobilising resources available to them, to remove garbage from different sections including the commercial areas. As yet, we have not been able to reach all areas. We regret that, but our officers are trying their utmost.
Also, the council sought and got the assistance of civic-minded members of the private sector. For that, we are very grateful, and hope that others would join us in this effort, to keep the city clean.
Nevertheless, out of the daily 130 tonnes of garbage generated in the city, the council, with its very limited resources, is only removing 65 tonnes per day. About 30 tonnes are removed by private contractors, using trucks, small canters and horse-drawn carts.
The trouble with the small local waste removers is that some of them just dump the stuff the next place they see space. About 10 tonnes are re-dumped by those private waste removers. The Solid Waste Management Department has waived the usual tipping fees, at the landfill site, to encourage them to cart their waste to the facility, but a few continue to dump the garbage on parapets and the reserves. This situation is exacerbated by the actions of some citizens, who not knowing when their garbage will be collected and unable to pay, the $500 to the private collectors, throw out their garbage in the alleyways and onto parapets. These actions are merely sending the problem further down the road; they are not helping the situation.
Since the council is not in a position to pay the garbage contractors at this point in time, and does not have the wherewithal to remove all the garbage from every ward in the city, there needs to be a collective approach between the council and all stakeholders to treat with the remaining 45 tonnes of rubbish in local neighborhoods. It is clear that the city council cannot achieve certain environmental deliverables including a clean and healthy environment with a passive and inactive public. The council simply cannot deal with this negative environmental situation on its own – everyone has a role to play. Citizens have to take public and community health more personal.
As a result, we had suggested that, at the individual level, citizens can consider reducing, reusing and recycling their waste.
At the community level citizens should form themselves into community groups, and take responsibility for the condition of their local communities. In fact, we have been engaging such groups in different ways. We have provided tools and technical assistance for some groups to do community work. We have found that this is a good way to get citizens to participate in activities aimed at keeping the surroundings clean and healthy.
We are appealing to civic, religious and other community-based organisations to assist in whatever way they can, in the communities in which they operate. This could go a very far way in keeping garbage off the streets and securing the health of our citizens. Also, we u
rge every property owner to ensure that they settle all outstanding accounts at City Hall. We need money and an engaging public to deliver key services to citizens.