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10% hike in rates and taxes – Mayor says order was Gazetted late
Many persons were shocked after a Gazetted order was published on June 27 informing that residential and commercial property rates in Georgetown have been increased by 10%.
The late Gazetted order
It was even more alarming that this hike was in effect since January of 2017.
The order also stated that the current rates for residential properties now stand at 44% while the total percentage of rates on commercial properties is 275%.
Nevertheless, City Mayor, Ubraj Narine, made it clear yesterday that he and the current Council are in no way responsible for this increase.
In fact, the Mayor claimed that this decision was made and effected by the previous City Council led by the former Mayor Chase Greene and her Town Clerk, Royston King.
However, the increase on the rates was never officially Gazetted as is required by law.
Nevertheless, Narine said, public notices were published in the various daily newspapers back in 2016 informing the public of this move.
Mayor Ubraj Narine
Kaieteur News was able to find articles published outlining the previous Council’s plans to raise the rates.
One article dated back to July of 2016 highlighted that the City Council would have increased rates on the aforementioned properties the following year.
The news article also reasoned that the Town Council had chosen to hike the rates because it needed money to offset various works across Georgetown.
Another article, which was published in February of 2017 iterated that the Council will raise the property rates by 10%. Kaieteur News noticed that this clearly contradicts the late gazetted order on June 27 which stated that this increase was in effect on the first day of January 2017.
Narine said, however, that property owners have been paying this increase since then.
When asked why the Gazetted order was only published now, the Mayor responded that since he took office in 2018, it was his mantra to set the record straight.
“I do not know why the previous Council did not Gazette the order but we were going through the records lately and found out that it was not Gazetted,” said the Mayor.
In keeping with his theme of “setting the record straight”, Narine said his Council had decided to publish the order recently in the Gazette.
Narine also added that there are more orders that have been in effect and not Gazetted.
He did not detail what those orders are but promised that they will be Gazetted officially in the near future.
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