–not much improvement offered citizens
BUDGET proposals for the Mayor and Councillors of the City of Georgetown (M&CC) for 2012, prepared by Acting Chairman of the Finance Committee of that entity, Mr. Junior Garrett, do not seem to offer much improvement at first glance. That was the observation of Junior Local Government Minister Norman Whittaker on Thursday, when he spoke with reporters at the Local Government Ministry at Fort Street, Kingston, along with Minister Ganga Persaud and Permanent Secretary Collin Croal.
Last Monday, without being approved by the M&CC, those estimates were sent to the Local Government Ministry. They showed proposed revenue at $2.0B and proposed expenditure at $1.8B.
After getting the council’s approval on Wednesday, Minister Whittaker said the ministry received a budget for $1.9B minutes before the press conference was called.
Based on discussions with the Town Clerk and the perusal of the estimates received, the ministry has noted that there was division among councillors with regard to the budget. According to Whittaker, one councillor offered that the budget represented the needs of the departments, instead of the people that the municipality serves. It was also noted that Garrett had disclosed that the council intended to go after delinquent rate payers.
“That’s what you have to do, because you cannot continually depend on the government to provide bailouts. Aggressive debt collection (is what) we want to see.
“There are a number of buildings that are classified as residential when in fact they are commercial. We know that, and City Hall knows that; and we want them to aggressively pursue that, because hundreds of millions of dollars are being lost every year because of the need to have these buildings reclassified,” Minister Whittaker pointed out.
It was also seen in the estimates that the cost allocated for employment continued to be very, very high, and the percentage of the budget that was going to be used to provide services was very low.
Though the proposals do not appear to offer much improvement, Whittaker said, the ministry is looking forward to the council pursuing the individuals who have outstanding amounts owed.
“There is a suggestion that they will seek our (government) help to have some $825M write off of electricity bill for street lighting. I don’t know that that is possible. (For) debts totalling over $100M, I don’t know that this caring government will take tax payers money to do that, when the budget for 2011 includes that,” Minister Whittaker offered.
Meanwhile, an official from the City Council told this newspaper on condition of anonymity that officers, including the Town Clerk, were not consulted on the budget preparation.
The source said Garrett had included $10M to be paid as gratuity to councillors, and that was not something ever done in the past. Moreover, that payment would have to be approved by the Local Government Minister.
“They’re just arbitrarily protecting their interests, and they want to be paid a pension at the cost of other developmental works,” the source said.
According to the source, the budget has drastically reduced the amounts for expenditure in many departments. “They are hoping for government to pick up their slack, and to increase property taxes which, again, has to be approved by the government.
“The Council feels (that) because Garrett knows accounts, he is qualified to be the person looking after the City’s finances, but it’s a fallacy. He is no recognized accountant. He has no experience, and being an accountant does not qualify him for managing the Council’s finances. They are just trying to bully the minister and the citizens into accepting the budget,” the source offered.