City Hall finalising 2011 budget

Feb 24, 2011 News

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Although it is yet to be approved at the level of Council, City Hall is gearing to present its 2011 budget within a matter of days. This newspaper understands that the municipality’s budget is likely to exceed $2B.
On Tuesday the budget preparation continued with a special meeting which ended with the consideration of estimates of revenue and expenditures for this year.
At that session, officers were given the opportunity to justify amounts they budgeted for various proposed programmes, activities and events, according to Public Relations Officer, Royston King.
He said that Councillors, at that forum, were permitted to raise questions of information and/or clarification on different aspects of the specific and general operation of departments.
The session was characterised by in-depth probing by Councillors, understanding of council’s precarious financial position and the quality of services available to citizens, King said.
He said that the preparation of the budget is characterised by Councillors attempting to strike a balance between the anticipated revenue and the provision of services and facilities to citizens and their local communities.
Last year Deputy Mayor and Chairman of the municipality’s Finance Committee, Robert Williams, was tasked with presenting a budget valued at $3.5B. He had disclosed that the budget, which represented a 50 percent increase over the previous year, was expected to work towards benefiting the city and by extension the citizenry.
He had pointed out then too that the increase came not as a result or 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 verses 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 had anticipated would have served to help realise 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 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, foster an environment conducive to business and the promotion of healthy lifestyles.”
He had noted that the council intended to focus on improving the current revenue garnering mechanisms which is a natural extension of efforts made in 2009 to enhance the management of the city’s financial resources and reduce wastage.
Williams had noted too, that the belief of the Council that some financial management systems are crucial to establishing the credibility, accountability and transparency.
However, the municipality was able to deduce last month that it had suffered a shortfall of $700M last year. As such King had disclosed that the municipality would be forced to engage every means possible this year to garner the requisite finances needful to meet its obligation to the city.
He revealed that among the areas that will require the municipality’s financial attention will be the management of solid waste, which has undergone drastic modification with the closure of the Le Repentir landfill site in the city and the opening of the Haags Bosch landfill site, aback of Eccles, East Bank Demerara.
The municipality had budgeted to collect $1.7B in taxes last year but was only able to collect $1B, King disclosed.
This, he said, had greatly hampered the efforts of the municipality to properly fulfil its mandate, which includes, solid waste management, maintaining the drainage integrity of the city, managing the various municipal operations and ensuring the timely payment of wages and salaries.
Reports are that several prominent business entities, in addition to some residential property owners are among those yet indebted to the municipality.
King revealed too that the Mayor and City Council is in dire need of the outstanding taxes to complement its already meagre revenue base.
With the relocation of the landfill site, the municipality will perhaps now be saddled with an additional cost to have the city’s solid waste be disposed of by contractors, taking into consideration the added distance, he added.

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