Georgetown: The Mayor & Councillors of the City of Georgetown (M&CC) is currently owed sixteen billion, two hundred and ninety-seven million, three hundred and ten thousand, five hundred and ninety-eight dollars ($16,297,310,598); and the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) has called on its membership and the business community in general to pay up all rates and taxes outstanding to the M&CC.“ This is an alarming amount,” said the GCCI in a statement to the media on Monday.
The entity reminded businesses that rates and taxes account for a significant percentage of total revenue obtained by the City Council, which uses that money to provide critical services to the City, as well as for the City’s restoration.
“As one of the leading business-support organisations in Guyana, the chamber is using its voice to urge the business community to be tax compliant”, the GCCI has said.
And the GCCI has urged City Hall to take “legitimate action where necessary” against defaulters, but cautioned that such action must be done transparently.
Speaking with the Guyana Chronicle on Monday, Town Clerk Royston King said the municipality welcomes the call by the GCCI. He noted that business owners need to be “ethical in the way they manage their affairs”.
“Pay up!” he admonished, as he disclosed that City Council recently received 14 judgments in its favour.
He said one business owes the Council as much as $143M in rates and taxes.
“We are asking people to come in and settle their accounts,” said King, who noted that Council has a payment plan for those who are finding it difficult to discharge their liabilities to the M&CC in one payment.
“Come in to our Treasurer…talk to the treasurer…there is a facility to allow those who have difficulties to come in and have a special arrangement to pay their rates and taxes,” the Town Clerk told the Guyana Chronicle.
King also said that, as part of their corporate social responsibility, businesses ought to be cognisant of the importance of paying their rates and taxes. He said the money paid as rates and taxes is responsible for the upkeep of the City.
“The rates we are talking about are in place over two decades ago. There has not been re-evaluation of properties for a long time,” he explained.
City Council, he said, is in a strained financial position, and is hopeful that all citizens — not just business owners — will visit the rates and taxes division of the municipality and pay their outstanding balance.
City Hall had announced in May that it was seeking legal permission to commence parate execution — the procedure by which it would be allowed to resell properties mortgaged to the bank. Those mortgages are organised without going through court proceedings, and City Hall would be given the power to hold an auction for the sale of those properties by an appointed auctioneer.
King said City Hall’s lawyers are still in the process of applying to the courts for permission to move ahead with parate execution.
“Our lawyers are working to complete the process; and as soon as they are complete, the administration of City Council will make an announcement on the matter,” he told the Chronicle.
He noted that many businesses are paying meagre taxes on their properties because City Hall has been unable to conduct evaluations. The Town Clerk added that City Hall’s work must not be hampered because of the refusal of citizens to honour their civic obligations.
Asked whether the City Council would be inclined to grant amnesty to defaulters, given their sloth in paying outstanding sums, King said no amnesty would be granted.
“At the moment, the Council is not considering amnesty, given that last year defaulters were given three months of amnesty and, even within that time, people did not make use of it.”
The Town Clerk added that City Hall is losing money when amnesty is granted, and is not inclined to have such a system reinstituted.
“It is not a very fair system, and the Council would not want to go back to that,” he said.
Over the years, the City Council has attempted to collect outstanding sums owed by the business community; and in many cases, amnesty was granted to allow for more persons to pay up their taxes.
King has also said that City Council is in the process of finalising arrangements to begin consultations geared at formulating the 2017 budget (capital and current expenditure). The Council is desirous of meeting all stakeholders within the City, not only the business community, but ordinary citizens as well.
He said the new constituency politics instituted by the Government of Guyana allows for more democracy, and as such, citizens will be part of several public discourses.
“We cannot run Council for a selected few…we will be moving into all communities (in) early August to begin consultations with all citizens,” he said.
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