THE budget for the Georgetown Mayor and City Council (M&CC) has not yet been approved by the council and a meeting to facilitate a discussion of it has now been set by the town clerk for January 8.

The M&CC, like any other municipality in the country, was supposed to have submitted its budgetary proposals for 2014 since last November 15, but because the council did not approve of it, the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development did not accept it.
According to Deputy Mayor Patricia Chase-Green, ever since then, Councillor Oscar Clarke has been trying to secure a meeting before the year’s end, but Town Clerk Carol Sooba has informed him that no time is available for such a meeting until January 8.

Speaking with the Guyana Chronicle in an invited comment yesterday morning, Chase-Green said they must abide with the date set, as no meeting could be held unless it is called by the town clerk.
Had a meeting been held last Friday, as was requested, Chase-Green said the budget proposals would have been able to be presented at the council’s fortnightly statutory meeting today for discussion.
Chase-Green also highlighted the fact that Sooba was not inclined to give a copy of the draft budget to every councilor, so that it could have been reviewed and discussed.
When contacted yesterday, Sooba said she preferred not to give a comment on the issue. She assured this newspaper though that the budget went through all of the processes and that the council will look at the proposals “shortly.”
She said a division arose on the budget when councillors wanted to input all sorts of ‘illegal’ things in the budget. (Telesha Ramnarine)