City accountants highlight difficulties tracking M&CC spending

Oct 11, 2018 News

City Treasurer (Ag) John Douglas

Accounting officials attached to the Georgetown Mayor and City Council, (M&CC) have highlighted a number issues associated with keeping track of spending at City Hall.

The officials testified before the Commission of Inquiry, (CoI) into the administrative affairs of Georgetown M&CC yesterday.

During their testimonies, both the City Treasurer (Ag) John Douglas and a former Accounting Manager with in excess of 20 years experience at the Municipality, Edwana Miller, pointed to gaps in the financial record keepings of the Council.

In her testimony, the witness revealed to the Commission that there are some instances in which the approved financial procedure for payments from the Georgetown M&CC is bypassed.

Miller, who has experience working in the City Treasurer’s Department for more than two decades, explained that while there are a number of steps that should be followed in making payments on behalf of the council, there are instances when these stages are skipped.

According to Miller, vouchers must be sent to the Town Clerk, the City Treasurer’s Department and the Sub-Finance Committee, before payments are made.

The former Accounting Manager admitted however, there are instances in which the process is not properly followed, which result in irregular payments.

Miller said too that accounting practices of the Georgetown M&CC lack proper planning.

“Are you satisfied with the state of accounting practices of Mayor and City Council?” asked Attorney for the Commission, Sherwin Benjamin.

“The system in the Treasurers Department needs proper control. If you don’t plan and control your income your expenses will always be more and you cannot reach certain requirements that you are obliged to meet,” Miller responded.

The witness said that there is difficulty keeping track of financial records and providing those documents for audits. She also stated that owing to such issues she declined the offer to act at City Treasurer of the Department.

“I didn’t feel comfortable so I refused to act as City Treasurer. I felt that I would have been exposed and I would not have been comfortable dealing with certain things.”

Miller said that the Deputy Town Clerk Sharon Harry -Munroe acted as City Treasurer instead.

However, the witness told the commission that she no longer works at the Treasury, because of an internal decision to transfer her to Market Department at City Hall.

Miller revealed that last year, she was seconded to the revenue section of the Market Department.

“I was told that I was going to head a project there but that never materialized.

Meanwhile in his capacity as acting City Treasurer, Douglas told the Commission that the Council has been struggling with proper record keeping.

Douglas started working at City Hall last year. Based on his experience there, the Accountant said that the department struggles with adequate infrastructure and proper filing space to keep the financial records.

“Keeping, finding and bringing up those records in a timely manner is a problem.”

Douglas was at the time responding to questions about City Hall‘s ability to provide timely records for audits. He admitted too that council has been struggling with debt to the tune of billions.

He stressed that that the council is also owed billions in taxes while it has been struggling to pay workers and remit monies to NIS, GRA and Credit Union on their behalf.

Audit Manager attached to the Office of Auditor General Dhanraj Persaud had previously testified of the failure of a person to comply with the request from auditors as it relates to queries about financial records constitutes a breach of the laws governing such activities.

Persaud noted the failure by Town Clerk Royston King to respond to the queries from the Audit Office in a timely manner.

King has since denied the claims of financial mismanagement at City Hall.

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