– to go after rates-and-tax defaulters

THE Linden Mayor and Town Council (LMTC) is calling on residents of the municipal districts of Linden to pay up their rates and taxes, so it can meet its obligations.
Linden Mayor Waneka Arindell says the situation is causing her sleepless nights, and bluntly declared during an exclusive interview with this newspaper, “People need to pay!”
Arindell revealed that the list of defaulters is very long, and what is even more disturbing is that the rates and taxes for residential properties in Linden are no more than $1,500; some as ridiculously low as $60.

In discussing the Council’s financial situation, Mayor Arindell said it can hardly hold its head above water; that it’s barely making it to maintain staff, many of whose pay is still below the minimum wage.

Mayor Arindell said the Council would love to do something about the wages, but its current financial situation is not allowing for a raise in pay presently.
And this is why she’s appealing to Linden residents to pay up their rates and taxes. She warned that those who continue to default stand a serious chance of facing penalties, since the Council is considering to hire debt collectors, as well as to convene a municipal court to deal with the matter.

The LMTC is also calling for several schemes in Amelia’s Ward to be placed under its radar, so that rates and taxes can be garnered from those residents as well.
The issue of rates and taxes is an old one, a situation former Interim Management Committee Chairman Orrin Gordon had hoped the 2016 Local Government Election would have renewed.

The current tax regime has not been updated since 1976, and during Gordon’s tenure, what little rates and taxes were collected could only service 25% of the Council’s expenses.
Since then he has been calling for a review of the 1976 valuation level to meet the current standard of living, as it’s not just outdated, but one also has to take into account such other factors as inflation.

Mayor Arindell said that the Council needs to find a way forward urgently about its finances so it can meet its obligations in not only paying staff, but also completing its road projects, and, most importantly, honouring its debt to several organisations, among them the National Insurance Scheme (NIS).

As things stand, she said, the Council only benefits from a $16M subvention from Central Government, and barely rakes in an average of about $4M a month from the toll booth.
She anticipates that while the debt collectors will deal with rates and taxes, the municipal court will deal with a wide range of issues, such as the dumping of garbage and environmental pollution.

She is the first to admit that it’s a long process, but given the large amount of financial issues the Council has, the consideration of these are very strong.