after being issued court order over $1.4 billion owed to GRA
Mayor says council will explore possible avenues, legal recourse in order to prevent possible seizure of City Hall’s assets

THE Georgetown Mayor and City Council recently received a court order to pay the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) some $1.4 billion in funds owed for Pay As You Earn (PAYE) that were deducted from employees’ salaries but not paid over to the revenue agency.

This was revealed by City Mayor Alfred Mentore and Town Clerk Candace Nelson during the council’s statutory meeting at the Kitty Market, on Monday.
According to Nelson, they received the court order, which she said was sent to the Marshal of the High Court to seize and sell items of the Council.
She related that she subsequently sought assistance from the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development, as the matter is one that the council has to look into immediately.
Mentore explained to the councillors that these are issues that are coming from the previous councils and stated that this is a result of PAYE deductions not being handed over to the GRA.

In breaking the matter down to the council, he indicated that most of the $1.4 billion owed happens to be interest and late fees, among other things, that has accrued over time.
“We would obviously be engaging our attorneys to be able to see how we could set aside or stall any order, or to have us having an opportunity to represent ourselves in this matter and to treat with that issue,” Mentore said.

While this is being done, he said that they would also seek to have a discussion with the Senior Minister within the Office of the President with responsibility for Finance, Dr Ashni Singh, in relation to this matter.

Councillor Don Singh asked for further details to be provided on the matter, as many of the councillors are new and were not aware of this matter prior to it being brought up at Monday’s meeting.

It was then that the Town Clerk revealed that from her recollection, the amount owed to the revenue authority caters for the years 2016 to 2022 in relation to the payment of PAYE for employees.

However, Assistant City Treasurer John Douglas said that from the last that they saw in the Treasury Department, they are in debt of just over $500 million to the GRA and, as such, interest rates, among other things, have to be considered.

Giving a breakdown, he said that the monthly PAYE for the council as it stands would be around $13 million.
Meanwhile, the Mayor said that a meeting with the council’s finance committee would be Monday, so that they could take a position on the matter and decide a way forward and prevent the council’s properties from being seized.

To this end, he said that this is not something that the council will take lightly, noting that he hopes that they would find a solution.
Just last year, the Guyana Chronicle reported that the Georgetown Mayor and City Council owed GRA between $400 to $500 million in unremitted PAYE income tax deductions that were taken out of employees’ salaries, but were not paid over to the authority.

At that time, Ubraj Narine was serving as Mayor and stated that they were hoping that the municipality could negotiate with the GRA to hold off on a warning that it would begin legal proceedings to levy on properties belonging to City Hall if the debt is not addressed.