SOME $65M in retroactive monies will be paid to Mayor and City Council (M&CC) workers from September, Town Clerk, Royston King said.

The sum being paid is based on salary increases which were awarded to the some 200 workers across the board from 2015-2018, but City Council was unable to meet this commitment after plans fell through.

“The increases we had awarded workers were based on anticipated revenues coming in from innovations and new revenue earning projects which we were unable to implement and as a result of that, unable to realise those anticipated revenues,” King told the Guyana Chronicle on Wednesday.

King and a team of city officials met with the Guyana Local Government Officers Union (GLGOU) President, Carvil Duncan last week and they agreed to a payment plan.

“The approach is that we have a five-months plan to pay out that money to workers and we’ll begin the pay out of that retroactive money from September month-end,” King said.
When asked whether this would affect the council’s ability to execute its functions, the town clerk confirmed that it will and that the money would have to be sourced from other areas to make the payout.

“The payout will affect the Council because, first of all, we will have to source that money because its adding an additional $11M to the Wages and Salaries Bill of City Council which as it stands right now is $112M and our average monthly intake is about $80M. So right away you see the financial challenge we’re faced with at the level of the city,” he explained.
He added that coupled with this, City Council has not had re-evaluation of properties for over 20 years.

Nonetheless, the Council recognises the importance of its workers and will make the payments even as it works to fulfill other duties to the city.

“We’re happy to do it because our workers are our greatest assets. We value them, we value their work; we appreciate what they’ve been doing. Many of our workers are doing their assignments, completing their tasks in a very harsh working environment and we’re grateful that they remain loyal and committed to the organisation.”

“But we need more financial elbow room to be able to honour our financial obligations both to our workers as well as to our contractors and as well as to provide municipal services to all the residents of local communities within the precincts of the city of Georgetown,” he said.