WORKERS at the Georgetown Mayor and City Council (M&CC) will not be taking home salaries this month-end.
September salaries will not be paid until after the first week in October, according to Public Relations Officer Royston King.
In an invited comment, King told this newspaper that the Council would regrettably not be in a position to make salaries payable on time for September. Based on information relayed to him by City Treasurer Andrew Meredith, King said staff will be paid around October 8.
According to him, the municipality is experiencing financial difficulties because of a number of reasons, including its very narrow revenue base which is “the fundamental problem that challenges the council’s ability to honour its obligations to employees and contractors”.
Many property and business owners, who owe money to the Council are now facing charges in court, King said.
At a recent press conference, when asked by this newspaper what happens to the money being deducted from workers’ salaries for Pay As You Earn (PAYE) and National Insurance Scheme (NIS), Town Clerk Yonnette Pluck responded that the money is used to pay salaries.
On this issue, King remarked that those taxes are remitted to these agencies, only not on time, due to the constraints the Council is under. “We don’t deduct the money and hold it. The money still has to be paid,” he stated.
Treasurer Meredith had said last September 13 that, with expenditure exceeding M&CC’s revenue for the past eight months, workers will again not be paid in a timely fashion this month.
Deputy Mayor of Georgetown Robert Williams had requested that the financial state of the municipality be discussed.
Declaring his reason for bringing up the issue, Williams stated that the Council is behind in payments to the Guyana Power and Light Inc. (GPL), the National Insurance Scheme (NIS) and the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA), among other institutions.