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Private sector to engage City Hall
The Municipal press conference in motion yesterday
– intends to address issues of concern
The inability to garner sufficient funds to adequately manage Georgetown is of immense concern to members of the private sector. This concern is the basis for a meeting that should be convened in another two weeks with relevant municipal officials.
At a press conference at City Hall, yesterday, member of the private sector, Mr Komal Ramnauth, said that the proposed meeting will be attended by members of the private sector and officials of the Georgetown Chambers of Commerce.
“We will have a team that will be engaging the municipality to address some of the issues and concerns that are preventing the City Council from performing properly. We hope that when we engage you (the municipality) we can also have fruitful negotiations with the Government to pay the taxes whatever is outstanding…”
According to Ramnauth, a similar collaboration was engaged not so long ago when waste disposal contractors had withdrawn their service from the municipality. He said that the private sector had met with the Minister of Local Government and Regional Development, Kellawan Lall, and the council and was able to engage negotiations which led to the first set of monies being released from Government for the payment of contractors.
“We will continue to work with council because at the end of the day we the businesses of Georgetown are being affected. As I was informed even if they (City Hall) collect 100 percent of their taxes it is still not enough to manage the city. So that is a serious concern we must address…”
Yesterday’s forum also saw the attendance of other city business owners.
City Mayor Hamilton Green, at the press conference, said that the Government owes the municipality in excess of $90M in taxes for the second and third quarters for this year. Government had handed over $40M of the amount for payment to the garbage collection contractors.
The fourth quarter for this year is due next month. “Normally a generous Government will pay in advance but for some reason that has not been happening. Instead of facilitating they are suffocating…” the Mayor asserted.
According to him it was determined some 16 years ago that the municipality could not perform its duties on the present tax base.
He recounted that it was deduced that the nature of the exercise undertaken by City Hall is labour intensive hence the need for a high percentage of wages and salaries. But given the unchanging financial circumstances at City Hall, Mayor Green disclosed that the municipality is now faced with deciding whether there is a need to drastically cut-back services.
“That is why we are involving the public from now….so that we live with the reality of a wage bill that is comfortable in terms of the optimal taxes we can collect.”
It has been long established, the Mayor said, that the ideal situation at City Hall would have been to adhere to the recommendation of the Interim Management Committee, which had managed in the municipality in 1994, to broaden the municipal revenue base and “allow us to breathe. But that is apparently not going to happen.”
Speaking on behalf of the private sector too yesterday, Rabindra Rambarran, said that the time has come for all stakeholders to be more professional and to ensure that “we use all the resources at our disposal efficiently and deliver our services effectively to the citizens and businesses of Georgetown.”
He further urged that persons should seek to put their politics aside and put Georgetown first. “We at the private sector believe in professionalism, accountability, transparency and we also believe in efficiency, effectiveness and economy… and we talk about value for money. I think that the city needs to be run like a business…” he added.
In doing so, he noted that there is need for a balance budget to ascertain the realistic revenue that can be generated.
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