Linden toll booth illegal, Minister Whittaker orders its closure

Sep 29, 2013 News

The controversial issue of the toll booth in Linden, which has featured in the media has taken another turn, as Town Clerk Jonella Bowen, obeying an order from Minister Norman Whittaker, shut the booth down Friday evening.
Her action came despite a decision by Council that the booth would continue to operate while it seeks legal recourse.
Meanwhile, in another correspondence which came from IMC Chairman Orrin Gordon, who is out of the jurisdiction, it was pointed out that ‘the Minister met with six councillors and the Town Clerk on September 16, 2013, in his office in Georgetown.
“He basically outlined that the Cabinet’s position was that the Council’s booth was illegal, because it was not gazetted. We continued to advance our case that, in our opinion it was legal.
The Council argued that there were the likely consequences of the “redundancy of more than 60 employees, and the deficit of $3mil loss in revenue”.
Gordon described the move by Government as “highly discriminatory”, and said that it lacks any meaningful alternative.
Those sentiments were echoed by acting IMC Chairman Eric Harry and Councillor Charles Sampson, who held a press briefing to update members of the media of the Council’s position.
Sampson said that if the toll booth wasn’t gazetted, it was not the Council’s fault. “This toll booth has been operating for sixteen years now and it was sanctioned by the Minister.
“All of a sudden there is a problem. As soon as we took steps to run the booth more efficiently there is a problem. This started after we reinstituted collecting toll on a 24-hour basis.”
“Before then, all the trucks heading for the interior used to only travel at night when they didn’t have to pay the toll, now because they have to pay the toll they complaining. But these very truckers that crying to pay $5000, pay five and ten times that amount at the various points, along the way, while travelling to the interior.”
Harry pointed out that the toll booth was sanctioned by Minister Whittaker, and a By Law was also signed by him.
But now the very same Minister is saying that the By Law has been rescinded, Harry lamented.
“We have begun to pay the minimum wage in July, and if we remove the toll the impact will be devastating; we will have to retrench workers.
“We budgeted for that toll revenue, so it is very integral to the running of the council. And we told the Minister that if we’re given a subvention of $60 million a year, then we can close it.”
There was no response to that suggestion, Harry said.
The toll booth was established in 1997, to help the Linden Town Council to garner revenues for the running of the municipality. The booth garners between $2.5 million and $3million every month.
The Interim Management Committee is meanwhile pursuing legal action in this matter.

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