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Mayor Hamilton Green said GPL will pay off taxes owed the City Council which will, in turn, deduct that sum and try to meet, soon, whatever else is still due.
Making the disclosure, at a City Hall press conference, yesterday, he said a meeting was held on Wednesday with the senior management of GPL to discuss the Council’s utility bills. Green said the discussions were very cordial and it is his belief that a high level of professionalism was displayed throughout.
He said GPL and City Hall should have had an exchange of cheques, yesterday, towards the municipality’s $1 billion electricity cost and GPL’s $35M taxes.
Green said he was informed that the Acting Town Clerk Carol Sooba paid GPL $7M in addition to the $35M for the total $42M revenue due by the latter.
VERY COMPLEX
The Mayor said the issue of the utility bill is a very complex one and he is pleading for an input from the central Government.
Towards this appeal, he said the Council has written to Prime Minister Samuel Hinds, explaining the challenges faced by City Hall and asking if he can render assistance in any way.
Green pointed out that street lighting constitutes 86.8 percent of the money owing to GPL and he proposed that some of it be cut off.
However, he said GPL made it very clear that the utility will begin to reduce lighting at City Hall rather than those on the streets.
Green claimed that, of the 2,000 street lights for which the Council is paying, many are not functioning but GPL countered that its survey indicated an additional 1,800 lamps had been installed by individuals and private sector businesses, all of which must be paid for.
