Gov’t pushes ahead with plans to increase property rates

May 08, 2018 News

Government is of the opinion that property valuation is needed across the country.

…Canadian firm contracted to assist country-wide assessment
The government has started laying the groundwork towards increasing property taxes across the country.
Cabinet has approved engagement of Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC) /Axilogic of Canada, for the modernization of Guyana’s property assessment system to ensure a complete national property inventory.
Minister of Communities Ronald Bulkan said that the plan is for a national mass appraisal within 18 months, as part of a promise to assist in the strengthening of revenue base and financial sustainability for local democratic organs.
Property rates are one of the key revenue streams for those organs. In 2017, at the municipal level, it represented between 11% of the total estimated revenue in Linden to 61% of the total in Georgetown.
“Finance is the lifeblood of any organisation, particularly those such as local councils that are service providers. It provides the means for the councils to achieve its goals. We all are aware of the importance of finance-money both in our personal capacity as well as administrators,” Bulkan stated.
The Minister pointed to the constant complaints of the inadequacy of finance, although not a phenomenon that is unique to local organs in Guyana only, but remains a sore issue that must be addressed if municipalities and capital towns are to realise their full potential.
“We are fully aware of the financial standing of councils and the difficulty encountered not only in discharging their mandate of service delivery, but honouring basic overhead expenses such as the payment of salaries. We know that without a reliable, continuous and locally generated source of revenue, it is nearly impossible for you to perform the task of community development.
Bulkan pointed out that it is a constitutional prescription that local government areas be economically viable and have an adequate resource base for management and development.
“It is for this reason that strengthening the revenue base and financial sustainability of councils is a key pillar in the Ministry’s three-prong approach, the other two being Democratic renewal and institutional strengthening and capacity building, to rehabilitate the system of local government,” Bulkan stated.
During the 2018 budget presentation, Minister of Finance Winston Jordan said Government would explore the possibility of conducting a country-wide valuation exercise to bring all property values up to date, so that Neighbourhood Democratic Councils (NDCs) and municipalities are equipped with appropriate revenue streams to deliver their mandate.
Jordan had outlined that the issue of outdated land values must be addressed.
According to Jordan, Government recognised that NDCs and municipalities must be financially self-sufficient if they are to deliver and maintain quality public goods and services to their constituents and facilitate socio-economic development across their respective areas.
“A major impediment to this, for decades, has been the lack of up-to-date valuations of properties all the across the country,” Jordan had pointed out.

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