Deputy Mayor Robert Williams, during a press conference at City Hall yesterday, disclosed that a recent assessment by his council revealed that there are over 143 properties in the city which owe the municipality substantial sums of money if an updated valuation roll is used. According to him, City Hall is now doing a verification exercise after which demand notices will be dispatched. Williams said some of these buildings are government entities and include the Government Tech-nical Institute (GTI) and the Richard Ishmael Secondary School on Woolford Avenue.
According to Williams, who is also Chairman of the Finance Committee, examinations by the council show that large sums of money are due on properties that were changed from residences to business places. He also said that some buildings have been extended, while others have been removed leaving the land alone. He said these changes had to be compared against what is contained in the current database of the council.
The municipality, Williams said, is hoping to bridge a portion of the differences between the revenue and expenditure by collecting some of this outstanding sum. The budget revealed a likely gap of $470 million.
Meanwhile, according to Williams the municipality has identified six areas as priority and expects resources to be made available to address these. According to him, these areas are: improving drainage and irrigation, maintaining and repairing roads, maintaining Le Repentir Cemetery and allocating new space for burials, enforcing the city by-laws upgrading the mechanical workshop and maintaining council buildings.
City Engineer Lloyd Alleyne, meantime, said that his department is moving clear the main drainage canals and alleyways in the city in time for the May/June rains. He noted that while there has been good weather recently, the work of the council in this regard was affected by limited financial resources as well as problems with some of the equipment. Alleyne stressed that there is adequate workforce to implement this programme, which would include assistance from prisoners.
Speaking about the outfall channels in the city, Lloyd said work had to be done on these since many of these channels are heavily silted. He said that of 12 such channels, only two are operating at a capacity of 75 per cent.
Lloyd also said that during a recent meeting with the Transport and Harbours Department, the council addressed these matters. He noted too that during these deliberations it was noted that sometimes ships in the Demerara River affect the proper functioning of these outfalls.
Mayor Hamilton Green described the budget as “an essay of hope” since “the basic features of life at City Hall – the stress, the trauma and the challenges have not really changed substantially”. According to him, City Hall needs greater support from central government. Green once again urged that a new valuation role be put in place.
On Thursday, the George-town Municipality unveiled a budget for 2010 of $3.5 billion, which is 50 per cent more than what budgeted in 2009.
