The Mayor and City Council is calling for a budget review as it remains challenged to fulfil its mandate including paying salaries, the latter of which was only completed last week for the month of May.
Town Clerk, Yonette Pluck-Cort made these disclosures at Monday’s statutory meeting. “Salaries for last month were paid late but we completed payments last week.
That was the workers who get paid every month. The ones who are paid weekly received their salaries on time,” she explained, while urging that a budget review be done.
Pluck-Cort proposed that the finance committee, which is headed by Councillor Junior Garrett, call a meeting today to address issues related to the Council’s ongoing financial dilemma. However, Garrett suggested that the Council start discussions immediately, which the town clerk opposed on the grounds that such dialogue would be inappropriate at a public meeting. Garrett maintained that the Council has nothing to hide and as such, the body should proceed.
Georgetown Mayor Hamilton Green intervened and in support of Pluck-Cort agreed that protocol should be followed, noting that “two more days won’t hurt anyone.”
In an invited comment after the meeting, M&CC PRO Royston King said the Council has a very narrow revenue base because some taxpayers have flouted the law regarding paying their rates and taxes. He noted that in addition to this, there are increasing demands in the city that need to be addressed. “So the demands of Georgetown are increasing while our financial resources are decreasing,” he added, explaining that in these circumstances the Council will face some challenges in paying salaries. “If there is no change in the current circumstances of the council as it relates to salaries, then we may not be able to pay salaries this month. It’s really unfortunate,” he said.
Last year July, the same problem obtained and the town clerk had simply said, “The position is that we don’t have any money.”
