A SIMPLE SOLUTION FOR A “COMPLEX” PROBLEM

Aug 14, 2011 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

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Surely, the Mayor and City Council of Georgetown does not expect that it will be continuously bailed out by the government every time it finds itself unable to pay for garbage collection. Such occurrences are becoming increasingly frequent. The government always ends up having to bail out the municipality by first paying its rates and taxes, and secondly, by offering additional sums.
Obviously, the government is not doing the municipality a favour by paying its rates and taxes. But the extent to which the council has become dependent on these taxes is worrisome. What is going to happen if the government suddenly decides to move a significant portion of its buildings outside of the capital, or the government itself runs into financial problems, or simply refuses to pay, as so many other taxpayers are doing?
The council has to ask itself these questions, because in a city in which there are far more private buildings, including businesses, than there are government offices, the council seems unable to carry out its mandate without the payment of government taxes. It shows that there is an imbalance, a terrible imbalance, in who pays taxes and who does not pay.
The government also should not be simply bailing out the council without getting something in return. The government obviously has an obligation to assist in maintaining the city, but it is the government that has spent billions on roads and other services that are supposed to be provided by the very council. In fact, if the government did not do these things, Georgetown would have to be declared off-limits.
There are forces that have great influence within the council that are pushing for power-sharing at the national level. Yet, they have refused to share power at the level of the council. They have gobbled that power up and refused to bring the ruling party into the political loop. Yet, it is the government of the ruling party that has in recent years had to come to the rescue of the council.
Each time there is a crisis the same excuses are made. The government, it is said, is refusing to approve of some lottery, a container tax and other revenue-raising measures. The government is absolutely in order to refuse these proposed taxes.
The council does not need new revenue measures to effectively run the city. The city used to be effectively run in colonial Guyana without all those taxes. The council itself has a number of revenue-generating businesses such as the markets, but it cannot maximize its revenues from that because over the years, it has been unable to deal with the problems of vending.
It has even gone further and permitted the expansion of vending outside of markets, with the effect that not as many persons are now entering these markets. As such, it is undermining its own golden goose.
Right now, one corner away from Town Hall, there is a cooking business being carried out from a vehicle on the city’s parapets. What happens to established business places when these practices are allowed? It is unfair competition, yet it is the very businesses that are suffering who have to pay the rates and taxes to keep the council going. The golden goose is therefore being caged.
It has also failed to move against squatting along its reserves and there have even been reports of persons receiving permission to occupy reserves. Are these persons paying rates and taxes? They are generating waste which the council has to pick up. They are using the roads. Some or most of them are somehow enjoying electricity and other services. How are these squatters assessed for rates and taxes?
No wonder many legitimate taxpayers are not paying up their rates and taxes. They look around them and they ask what about the squatters. No wonder the businesses within the markets are going bust. They see persons selling outside of the markets and on the pavements, when they are within the markets and have been there for years, and are being starved. There are many businesses now which are also selling from the pavements. And guess why they are doing this? If they do not, some vendor is going to come and squat in front of their business and that vendor is not paying taxes to the council and is enjoying a free ride.
Whenever these issues are raised, the excuse is that it is a complex problem. A complex problem for whom I ask? If the problem is too complex for the council, they should do the right thing and step aside.
And the government should cease bailing out the council unless it cedes some of its authority. The government should insist that in return for bailing out the city, the council hand over certain of its responsibilities. In fact, the government should have long moved to dissolve the entire city council and take over the management of the city.
This was done in Linden, and there is no reason why it should not be done in the capital. Those who are touting power-sharing should not have any problems with such an arrangement. In fact, it should be a test of just how serious they are about sharing power. How about sharing power at the lowest possible denominator and before the elections?
If the political opposition is concerned about the government using the city to enhance its electoral fortunes, then agree to an interim management committee drawn almost exclusively from the private sector.
After all, it was not the goodwill of the government that was responsible for the recent decision of the government to bail out City Hall once again. It was because the garbage crisis was costing the private sector that the government intervened. So how about handing the council over to the private sector to run?

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