Georgetown Mayor Hamilton Green has questioned the authority by which Minister of Local Government Kellawan Lall has ordered that monies owed to the City Council for rates and taxes by the government be used to pay garbage collectors on a monthly basis.
In a letter to Lall dated August 13, 2010, Green has asked the minister to clarify his position and indicate which regulation or by what authority the order was made. The letter was a result of an emergency meeting of the Finance Committee with Green and other councillors to discuss Lall’s directive. “Such a directive suffocates discussions we planned with all of the solid waste contractors to find a modus vivendi. This, you’ll agree is wholly untenable; after all the three contractors have agreements with the Mayor and City Council and not central government,” Green pointed out. The Council has since referred Lall’s correspondence on his order to its lawyers for advice.
While he acknowledged in the letter the receipt of the sum of $40M, Green also indicated that there are still outstanding taxes due on certain government properties for the second and third quarters of the year. He added that while the sum is quite arbitrary, it appears to be punitive. “This has the potential to be contentious, given the statement I heard, made by you today suggesting that the Mayor and City Council ought not to be relied upon to disperse its funds in a sensible or satisfactory manner, that is, as far as the state hierarchy is concerned,” he said.
Green had taken issue with Lall’s decision to hold meetings with several city council officers, which he saw as the Minister’s attempt at micro-managing City Hall. He believed that it is the right of the treasury to dispense with payments as it sees fit and not to be dictated to.
At a press conference on August 10, Lall said that the decision on monthly payments was taken after a meeting between President Bharrat Jagdeo and the collectors. He explained that the method would guarantee the monthly payment of the contractors. He had said at that point that there was no agreement between the parties on his decision.
Green told Stabroek News yesterday that he had not received a response from the Minister and said that he would address the issue at a press briefing at City Hall today.
