City Hall has initiated an internal probe into the operation of its Treasury Department following claims of irregularities and inefficiencies in its Finance Department.
A motion passed by the Council at its Monday, Janaury 14, statutory meeting lists seven charges against the City Treasurer and the Treasury Department. One of the charges is that information prepared by the Treasury reflects a “lack of proper accountability” in the expenditure of funds provided to the Council by government.
Stabroek Business has seen a copy of the motion which also charges that the City Treasury made an unauthorized payment to “special members of staff” in December last year.
The motion which assigns the probe into the alleged irregularities to the Council’s Personnel and Training Committee also alleges that the running of the City Treasury reflects ” a level of insecurity and lack of coordination.”
The disclosure that the City Treasury is to come under investigative scrutiny follows sustained public criticism of the management of finances at City Hall including repeated claims by central government that state funds allocated to the municipality were being mismanaged.
Senior City Hall officials are keen to make known any implications of impropriety in the motion. Public Relations Officer Royston King told Stabroek Business that the decision to investigate the operations of the Treasury Department was part of “the broader exercise of restructuring” which the municipality was currently undertaking. He confirmed that work had already begun to fashion the terms of reference of the investigating committee, but was keen to play down any suggestion that the passage of the motion was indicative of a major crisis in the management of the Council’s finances.
Stabroek Business understands that City Treasurer Roderick Edinboro remains on the job but was unable to reach him for comment.
However, another City Council source told Stabroek Business that the passage of the motion had resulted chiefly from pressures that have been brought to bear on the municipality in the wake of its worsening financial crisis, the manifestations of which included failure to settle outstanding amounts due to contractors, difficulties in meeting payments of salaries to municipality staff in a timely manner and failure to deliver services to the city which City Hall was obliged to provide.
The source told Stabroek Business that given the serious nature of the charges levelled against the City Treasurer and the Treasury Department, it was questionable whether an internal investigation was sufficient to realize “full and transparent findings.”
A release sourced to City Hall and issued after Monday’s statutory meeting said that the motion was passed without dissent. However, both Town Clerk Beulah Williams and King told Stabroek Business that they had no knowledge of the release.
The City Hall source told Stabroek Business that the release may have been issued by the Office of the Mayor without consultation with either the Town Clerk or the Public Relations Officer. The source described the controversy over the release as an example of the “irreconcilable differences” within the Council which differences raised “interesting questions as to how the Council would proceed with the investigation.”
The Council’s charges of irregularities and inefficiencies in the management of its finances come in the wake of calls that have been made for a more business-oriented approach to the management of the municipality.
City Hall’s Treasury Department includes an Information Technology Officer responsible for what the motion describes as “IT-related programmes.” However, according to the motion there seems to be no clear indication of expected deliverables.”
City Hall has frequently blamed its cash-strapped condition on difficulties associated with the collection of rates and taxes owed to the municipality. The source told Stabroek Business, however, that while there were a number of “genuine difficulties” associated with the collection of rates and taxes the motion passed by the Council had itself conceded that there were serious inefficiencies in the rates and taxes collection regime at City Hall which included the “selective” issuance of collection orders and legal notices and interventions by officials “to prevent the effective application of collection procedures.” It is known that some businesses owe very large amounts but no action is taken against them.
While the motion passed by the Council states that the investigation is to begin “immediately” King told Stabroek Business that the Auditor General’s Office which is to be involved in the investigation is to be approached to assist with the preparation of the terms of reference. He declined to speculate on a time frame for the start of the enquiry.