GEORGETOWN Mayor, Hamilton Green and Deputy Mayor Patricia Chase-Green have indicated considerable displeasure with misinformation released by the council’s finance committee chairman, Mr. Junior Garret, in respect to City Hall’s financial situation. At a media briefing last Friday, the Mayor said the glorious picture Garret had painted is a far cry from the reality of the situation. Green said City Hall has been operating on very slim finances, and has reluctantly been seeking help from central government.

He asserted that the town clerk and finance chairman’s deliberate ruse has caused serious public misinformation in regard to the real situation within City Hall, which is that, from time to time, City Hall has been trying to convince government it is duty-bound to extend help to the city, given the financial limitations within City Hall.

Deputy Mayor Patricia Chase-Green said the council’s numerous liabilities outweigh the $83 million in savings accumulated. She asserted that the council has not even fixed a foot of road, or done a single drainage work for quite a period of time because, presently, “its hands are tied.”

She noted that the council’s liabilities are in excess of one billion dollars and counting, and said that a comparison of revenue collected from January to April 2012 and 2013 shows that $595,852,558 were collected in 2012, whereas $588,841,292 have been collected for the same period in 2013, and this is a shortfall of $7,011,222. Consequently, $83 million in savings at the bank cannot compensate for the liabilities of over one billion dollars.

She opined that deception is at the heart of the decline of Georgetown, and said that to say City Hall has savings when there are numerous liabilities and expenses is unacceptable, because simple maintenance to date has not even been done.

She added that dishonestly representing the financial situation at the municipality’s treasury has allowed unpleasant misrepresentation of the current financial situation of City Hall, and indicated that, at present, there are still security guards who have not received their overtime salaries accrued since last year, and even the garbage collecting contractors, besides other contractors, have not been fully compensated for their works and services.
For a number of years, City Hall has been suffering from a milieu of financial woes, and up to this day, it has not effectively resolved those financial matters. Reports are that, at the last statutory council meeting, Town Clerk, Carol Sooba had transformed the financial status of the City in a very short period of time.

The mayor and his deputy have both expressed outrage at the statements put forth by the town clerk and the finance committee chairman. They have advised persons not to be misled by the individuals, as they are partly responsible for most of the issues facing City Hall.

The mayor and the deputy mayor have also complained about the conditions under which the town clerk has kept persons employed during her watch.