Alleged praise for Acting Town Clerk Carol Sooba who it was claimed had increased the rate of tax collection, was highly criticized and deemed an untruth at yesterday’s Mayor and City Council statutory meeting.
“That is the most ridiculous statement that could have been made. How did this humongous amount of money suddenly surface? This is not true. The ministry is setting out to deceive the citizens of Georgetown. Not the councillors because we know,” Deputy Mayor, Patricia Chase-Green said in an outburst. The praise was allegedly made by the Minister of Local Government.
Calling it a very serious matter, Mayor Hamilton Green confronted Sooba asking for some form of clarification.
She replied: “It is because I’ve been making all the payments that haven’t been paid. We stabilized this; it hasn’t been done in months.”
Councillors agreed that this statement did not answer the question put to her and the Mayor repeated: “Is it true that we’ve had a substantial increment above and beyond the normal collection rate of taxes over the past four weeks?”
Sooba called on Acting City Treasurer, Ron McCalmon, to respond to the Mayor’s question. He said that for the month of August, a total of $116 million was collected in taxes, while the average collection was around $105 million; an $11 million difference. He further stated that the increased amount was due to the third quarter taxes collected from the government which is $40 million.
“In other words… if the minister implied that there was an increase of tax collection then he is wrong?” Green asked. McCalmon said he did not hear the minister’s statement and as such, would not comment. In July, Town Clerk Yonette Pluck-Cort, City Treasurer Andrew Meredith, City Engineer Gregory Erskine, Deputy Town Clerk, Sharon Harry-Munroe, Director of Solid Waste Management, Hubert Urling and Personnel Officer Paulette Braithwaite, were sent on leave pending the outcome of an investigation into City Hall.
Yesterday, Sooba revealed that of the six officers, two officers were paid in full, one partially and the others received no salaries.
“Ms Pluck was paid her salary. Erskine was paid no salary because he chose not to do the handover. He wrote to Minister Whittaker and told him that he did the handover but that was not so… He is still in possession of the keys to his department. Meredith also chose not to come and do the handover so we had to take an invention into that office as well. Sharon Harrry-Munroe went overseas without the permission of this council though advised that the police would need her. She was paid for July but she left the country after and has since returned. Urling was paid his full salary,” Sooba explained. Braithwaite was unaccounted for.
Earlier on, tempers flared during discussions about a document being forwarded to the Local Government Minister without first being vetted by the Chairman of the Council.
“We asked the Town Clerk to write to the minister for an update into the issue of officers who were sent on leave. No one asked for her opinion,” Chase-Green, said, explaining that Sooba’s letter was of her personal observation.
Sooba declared that it was not necessary for her to have every letter she prepared approved by the Chairman of the Council, who in this instance was Chase-Green. She was corrected by the Mayor, who said that this is protocol and in his absence, these documents must be forwarded to the Deputy Mayor. “You are the Secretary of this council, as the Town Clerk you must,” Chase-Green emphasized, pointing her fingers sternly at Sooba.
This gesture was strongly objected to by PPP councillor Kamla Devi-Ross who considered it “disrespectful and an abuse of authority”. This comment prompted the Deputy Mayor to also point her finger in the direction of Devi-Ross, resulting in an outburst around the table.
Sooba eventually accepted the requirement of forwarding her letters to either the Mayor or Deputy Mayor.
Mayor Green subsequently asked whether a response had been received from the minister’s office.
“I saw a response that was sent but I haven’t seen one at my office,” Sooba responded. Asked to relay briefly the contents of the letter, she refused. “I prefer to wait. I don’t want to be called a liar so I rather wait and provide the document,” she said.
