SEVERAL workers at the Georgetown Mayor and City Council (M&CC) remain without salaries for last month. And City Treasurer Andrew Meredith earlier this month remarked that, unless there occurs a drastic change, this situation could remain for months.
The Chronicle was reliably informed yesterday by an official at the council that the situation regarding payments to workers remains the same.
At present, 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.
At the last fortnightly meeting, held at City Hall on June 13, Meredith said 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.
Meredith said the situation is not far from that experienced every three months in connection with payments to garbage contractors. The Council often finds itself in the predicament of not being able to pay the contractors in a timely fashion.
At present, the municipality owes some $120M to the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) and the National Insurance Scheme (NIS).
At the June 13 meeting, Councillor Junior Garrett had 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 September last, Meredith reported to the Council that the municipality was almost $100M behind as of August last, with $35M outstanding to ‘Pay As You Earn’ (PAYE) taxes, and $24M to the National Insurance Scheme(NIS).
On average, the rate of revenue collection since last July was $115M, while the rate of expenditure has been $128M per month.
“Money is never enough to pay salaries, [garbage] contractors, and to provide machinery. This is the position every month,” he had lamented.
Meredith opined that no one should be alarmed at the municipality’s current financial position as it has been in this state for the longest while.
However, he is of the view that the municipality should not continue being unable to pay NIS and PAYE. Thus, “harsh decisions” must be made and expenditure must be cut down, he remarked.