THE six municipalities submitted the estimates of their 2013 income and expenditure yesterday, to the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development for approval.

Section 155 of the Municipal and District Councils’ Act requires town councils or district councils to prepare and submit that information for the next financial year, no later than November 15 of each year.
The municipalities are Corriverton, Anna Regina, Rose Hall, New Amsterdam, Linden and Georgetown and their presentations were done at the Ministry, in Fort Street, Kingston, in the presence of Minister within the Ministry Norman Whittaker; Deputy Permanent Secretary  Abena Moore, Town Clerks, Treasurers and other staff of the ministry and municipalities.
Prior to the submissions, Mr. Whittaker reminded the officers that the budgets have to do not merely with a set of numbers – “It’s about plan and control measures which reflect a vision of the municipality. It helps to control what happens in each department.”
He cautioned that revenues must equal expenditure and that when the expenditure exceeds the revenue, there has to be some way to finance the deficit. “That represents liabilities to persons and, ultimately, it is the council and residents who will have to help remove that deficit.”
Whittaker said government, through the Ministry, will only help to remove the deficit when there is an absolutely necessary need. “We do not help councils to wipe out deficits because we are of the view that budget deficits represent either hanging your hat where your hands can’t reach or there must be some necessary need. And, in such a case, the ministry will assist by way of grants, but that has to be critical situations.”

WRONG MATERIALS
The minister urged the officers to monitor projects as they are being implemented so that the complaints from residents would lessen. “Monitoring and supervision of projects are important so that we do not realise, at the end of a project or near the end, that, perhaps, the wrong materials were used. “We now have to go out and take measures to reach out to people to help them to pay their revenues.”
He pointed out that municipalities are breaching the regulations when they cash people’s personal cheques and when they keep more money than they legally should be keeping.
Meanwhile, according to the DPS, the estimates for the budget should only be arrived at after consultation with all stakeholders involved.
Providing background information on how the process got started, she said, in 1994, the Government of Guyana and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) signed an agreement for the rehabilitation of all the municipal structures, institutional strengthening and capacity building.
These areas fell under the Urban Development Programme which unearthed serious defects in the financial management of the municipalities.
As a result, the municipal budget process was developed to ensure standardisation and proper accountability. Prior to this, the municipalities were submitting their budgets in whatever format they deemed fit.