Minister within the Ministry of Local Government Norman Whittaker on Thursday praised six municipalities for the timely presentation of their budgets for the financial year 2013.
The municipalities of Corriverton, Anna Regina, Rose Hall, New Amsterdam, Linden and Georgetown presented their budgets, under the theme ‘The Budget as a Medium for Promoting Effec-tive and Efficient Municipal Governance,’ the Government Information Agency (GINA) said.
Section 155 of the Municipal and District Council Act Chapter 28:01 requires town councils and district councils to prepare and submit to the minister for his approval estimates of their income and expenditure for the next financial year, not later than November 15 of each year.
After receiving the documents, Whittaker heaped praise on the municipalities for completing and submitting them on time. He said that a budget is a municipality’s most important tool for allocating resources to its various departments, and that this allocation should reflect the input of councillors, staff and residents within the municipality.
To this end, Whittaker said he expected that the estimates presented “are reflections not only of council wishes, not only of council’s policies and priorities… but equally important reflect the wishes of the residents of the municipality.”
Residents’ inputs are crucial as they are the recipients of the services provided by the municipalities and they will voice opinions on the quality of service delivered.
Whittaker told the meeting that budget submission is just the start of a process and implementing the plans and polices outlined and approved is important. He urged the municipalities to discharge duties related to budgeted sums and to ensure that projects are monitored and supervised properly.
Further, he charged them to ensure that they collect sums budgeted for, such as rates, in order to avoid hampering other projects. Regarding defaulting rate payers, Whittaker said the municipalities can reach out to such persons with a view to helping them to pay their dues.
