THE Mayor and City Council (M&CC) is in the process of initiating legal proceedings against the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL) for huge amounts of money owed the municipality, says Town Clerk Royston King.King made the announcement on Monday during the Council’s statutory meeting at City Hall, and noted that NICIL owes billions of dollars to the M&CC in rates and taxes for the Guyana National Industrial Company Incorporated (GNIC), Central Garage Inc; West Ruimveldt Industrial Site, and state land in the vicinity of the Oil Mill in Kingston.

City Hall is owed $172M for GNIC, more than $33M for Central Garage Inc and West Ruimveldt Industrial Site, and more than $179M for state land in the vicinity of the Oil Mill in Kingston.

“And so we are proceeding to take legal action so that we can cover these outstanding sums to do work in the city,” King stated.

NICIL was created in 1990 under the Companies Act to hold and manage the assets of the government.

Just recently, the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) called on the business community to pay up all rates and taxes owed to the M&CC, which, according to reports, add up to more than $16B.

“This is an alarming amount,” the GCCI said in a statement, while reminding businesses that rates and taxes account for a significant percentage of total revenue obtained by the City Council, which in turn uses that money to provide critical services to the City.

“As one of the leading business-support organisations in Guyana, the chamber is using its voice to urge the business community to be tax compliant,” GCCI said; and it had urged M&CC to take “legitimate action where necessary” against defaulters.

The Town Clerk had subsequently told this publication that business owners ought to be “ethical” in the way they manage their affairs. “Pay up!” he admonished, as he disclosed that the City Council recently received 14 judgments in its favour.

“We are asking people to come in and settle their accounts,” said King, who noted that Council has a payment plan for those who are finding it difficult to discharge their liabilities to the M&CC in one payment.

“Come in to our Treasurer…talk to the treasurer…there is a facility to allow those who have difficulties to come in and have a special arrangement to pay their rates and taxes. The rates we are talking about are in place over two decades ago. There has not been re-evaluation of properties for a long time,” he explained.

City Council, he said, is in a strained financial position, and is hopeful that all citizens — not just business owners — will visit the rates and taxes division of the municipality and pay their outstanding balance.

Meanwhile, City Hall had announced in May that it was seeking legal permission to commence parate execution — the procedure by which it would be allowed to resell properties mortgaged to the bank.

Those mortgages are organised without going through court proceedings, and City Hall would be given the power to hold an auction for the sale of those properties by an appointed auctioneer.

King said City Hall’s lawyers are still in the process of applying to the courts for permission to move ahead with parate execution.