SEVERAL officials at the Georgetown Mayor and City Council (M&CC) have over time expressed their frustration at the large staff that is unnecessarily employed.
And they have argued that the monies being paid to them could be used for other pressing issues plaguing the municipality.
The latest criticism came yesterday from Georgetown Mayor Hamilton Green who, at a press conference in Council’s Chamber, said: “We can no longer afford to carry people who are moribund, incompetent and just lazy.”
The mayor charged that it is unfair to citizens for the council to carry staff that is not functioning ‘for one reason or another.’
Deputy Mayor Robert Williams had said that this year the council proposes to reduce its staffing by 231. It has budgeted to fill only 122 vacancies, he disclosed at a stakeholders meeting held in March.
Meanwhile, a number of M&CC staff took home no salaries for last month and City Treasurer Andrew Meredith Monday said that unless ‘there occurs a drastic change,” this situation could go on for months.
Meredith related that some workers could not be paid for May due to the financial constraints plaguing the municipality. Payments were made to some of the banking institutions to which workers are affiliated, but no money has been released to the major institution, Republic Bank.
According to Meredith, the wages and salaries bill could not be paid in its entirety as the Council only managed to garner 50 percent of its monthly revenue, which represented $40M.
“The salaries bill is a challenging one,” he said, adding that council’s liabilities at the end of April amounted to $988M.
At present, the municipality owes some $120M to the Guyana Revenue Authority and the National Insurance Scheme.
At the council’s most recent statutory meeting, Councillor Junior Garrett remarked that the financial situation of the council could be avoided with proper management of resources. He charged that liabilities are often incurred without the knowledge of the City Treasurer and that there needs to be a reduction in over-time costs and telephone bills.
In the past, Meredith had said that no one should be alarmed over the municipality’s current financial position as it has been in this state for the longest while.