The Region Three administration is calling on residents to make an effort to bring their rates and taxes payment up to date, the Government Information Agency (GINA) said in a press release.
According to GINA, Vice Chairman of the Region Three Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC), Manpersaud said this is necessary to enable the Regional Democratic Council (RDC) to execute necessary drainage and irrigation works.
And despite a government subvention of $3M allocated to each NDC, the RDC still needs to collect taxes to offset the proposed expenditure that was highlighted in its Estimates and Subvention programme for 2009.
Manpersaud also noted that the total amount of collectable taxes for 2009 is $281.5M but at the end of May only $46,543,097 had been garnered. He emphasized that rates collection is very low in some NDCs and this is reflecting negatively on the work.
While contracts have been awarded and works are in progress in the region, generally the main source of revenue is from rates collection, without which work will progress slowly.
When asked about the methods employed to enforce rates and taxes collection, he stated that community meetings are being held with ratepayers. He also observed that at the meetings persons were not supportive of the time set out by the administration for the paying of their taxes and said they would prefer the works to be done and taxes paid after.
He pointed out, however, that residents should be reminded of their responsibility to pay their taxes on time.
Meanwhile, the Neighbourhood Democratic Councils (NDCs), with the assistance of the Regional Democratic Council (RDC), will meet with the residents to determine what should be done on the basis of priority.
Manpersaud said that the last election for NDCs was held in 1994 and since then many councils have been depleted and are showing lack of interest in carrying out the work. He pointed out that the Ministry of Local Government has put in place an interim management committee to oversee the work.
The vice chairman noted that while work is being done with the limited resources available, residents are dumping rubbish in the canals and not cleaning their interlocking drains. These practices, he observed, result in flooding and persons need to desist as it carries a high risk for water-borne diseases.
In the meantime, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has provided the NDC with forms that will assist them in prosecuting persons found guilty of dumping rubbish in the canals.
