By Vanessa Braithwaite
TO better manage the operations of the Kara Kara toll booth in Linden, the Linden Mayor and Town Council (LMTC) will be investing $3M from its 2019 subvention to upgrade its functions and funds from this total will go towards   purchase a point of sale machine.

There have always been allegations and suspicions of funds being pilfered at the toll booth, which in 2016, led to the previous council firing two of the staff attached to the toll booth and installing CCTV cameras at the location.

Mayor of Linden, Waneka Arrindell, noted that purchasing the machine, which costs approximately $245,000, is a priority, since the toll booth rakes in a significant amount of funds for the municipality and it needs to be better monitored. “We want to make sure we have systems in place to better manage those finances. We are purchasing a point of sale machine so we can effectively monitor the finances that pass through,” she said, during an exclusive interview.
Immediate past Mayor, Carwyn Holland, had contended that more could be done if the funds are effectively monitored. A previous audit was conducted on the booth’s operations and there was evidence that the monies were being pilfered.

This newspaper was told by an employee under anonymity that the toll booth employees would charge lumber trucks and heavy-duty machinery their correct toll, but would give the drivers a fake receipt while documenting a toll received for a smaller vehicle which would incur a lesser amount.

Former Interim Management Committee Chairman, Orin Gordon, had related that the previous council also had to deal with fraudulent behaviour before the toll booth was disbanded in 2013. Even though there was no concrete evidence against the employees there, the revenues garnered did not meet the expectations of the council and therefore it was forced to collaborate with community policing groups who had ranks stationed at the toll booth.

The toll booth operations saw the imposition of tolls for the use of the roads by 18 categories of vehicles, particularly vehicles passing through the town with fuel, lumber or merchandise. These include lumber trucks, machine haulers, container trucks, canters selling beverages, fish, fruits and vegetables, dry goods etc. The tolls range from $2000 to $7000. Linden-registered businesses only pay 25 per cent of the toll for their vehicles.
Mayor Arrindell posited that every cent earned by the council should be brought in since it is still millions of dollars in debt and is hoping to receive assistance from central government to become debt free. For 2019, LMTC received $18M in subvention from central government.