City Hall officially unveils 2010 budget

Apr 02, 2010 News

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– laments $258M shortfall last year

It was following no little effort on the part of officers, councillors and members of the Implementation Committee that the 2010 budget for the Mayor and City Council of Georgetown (M&CC) was officially unveiled yesterday.
Valued at some $3.5B, Deputy Mayor and Chairman of the Municipal Finance Committee, Robert Williams, is optimistic that the budget will work for the citizens of Georgetown. In fact, he disclosed that the financial plan represents an increase of 50 percent over 2009 financial year figures.
However, he said that it should be noted that the increase comes not as a result of more spending or a significantly expanded programme but rather through efforts by the council to take into account, for the first time, all of the resources available in cash and kind.
“It is the council’s belief that the annual budget is more than a mere balance sheet of revenue versus expenditure. It is more than an exercise to balance the books and to ensure that the current amount of money is directed towards the correct service areas.”
According to Williams, in a city such as Georgetown with its tremendous developmental challenges and continued disparities between different local communities, the budget is seen as a policy instrument which will help to efficiently and effectively manage the resources in the quest to transform the current state of the city.
And this move, he said, will be in keeping with the municipal’s vision statement, which states that “the vision of the Georgetown Municipality is to obtain a garden city with a clean and healthy environment that is well zoned, with heritage sites and monuments that are maintained and enhanced and where cultural diversity is preserved and expressed through collaboration with citizens under efficient, dynamic and focused management and leadership and with a qualified and motivated workforce, fostering an environment conducive to business and the promotion of healthy lifestyles.”
As such, the council intends to focus on improving the current revenue garnering mechanism which is a natural extension of efforts made in 2009 to enhance the management of the city’s financial resources and reduce wastage.
Williams noted that it is the belief of the council that some financial management systems are crucial to establishing the credibility, accountability and transparency.
“Last year we witnessed the devastating effects of the global economic meltdown in developed countries. Entire sectors collapsed and hundreds of thousands of livelihoods were ruined.”
Shortcomings
Cities in the developing world suffered as a result, with Georgetown being no exception, Williams said.
Consequently, there was a significant shortfall in revenue which, compounded by other factors, resulted in several shortcomings in the execution of municipal programmes last year.
In 2009, the municipality presented a $2.2B budget which was based on certain assumptions, the most critical of which was the release of the Valuation Roll, which would have assigned correct and mostly increased rates to numerous properties around the city.
And it was expected that there would have been aggressive engagements in judicial processes, such as Petty Debts Act and Distrait Warrants, improved collections of market fees and the introduction of new provisions under the Public Health Act.
However, these measures were not realised, resulting in the council experiencing a shortfall of an estimated $258M.
“It should be noted that there were major problems in managing the resources last year and it is difficult to determine the accuracy of this figure,” Williams asserted.
Compounding the revenue management situation was the reluctance of property owners to honour their commitments to the municipality.
This situation persisted, Williams said, despite the efforts of the municipality to introduce an amnesty process, which had two extensions, to citizens.
And this state of affairs, the Deputy Mayor stressed, severely impacted the municipality’s ability to provide services and carry out much needed projects.
“It must be understood that rate collection is the chief revenue base for the council, so naturally, a shortfall in this area will ultimately affect the delivery of key services in the city.”
Another factor which influenced the municipality’s ability to execute its programmes was the absence of benchmarks and indicators in the different service delivery areas.
As such, the entity was unable to measure performance and assess the quality of service provided to citizens last year.
This, Williams said, translated to ad hoc planning, duplication of efforts and a general gap between planned activities and eventual execution.
In the area of human resource management there were major problems in terms of compliance with staff needs, in addition to the fact that a number of persons were paid for not performing.
However, the latter situation was often due to the non-availability of materials and not necessarily the refusal of staff to work.
Successes
Despite some challenges, there was a modest level of success in the area of solid waste management, Williams disclosed.
He revealed that the collection trucks were often on schedule in all communities and hauled more than 300 million tonnes of refuse from therein.
Notwithstanding, the municipality struggled to maintain the Le Repentir Landfill site, which saw a number of fires spontaneously igniting last year. However, during last year, adequate steps were taken to begin the phasing out of the landfill site.
Williams was also elated to highlight the performance of the services offered by the Maternal and Child Welfare Department, which he regarded as one of the unsung features of the municipality.
And since revenue collection is seen as crucial, the municipality will this year work towards strengthening its various departments, Williams asserted.

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