Minister of Local Govern-ment and Regional Development, Norman Whittaker met with the councillors and staff of the Anna Regina Town Council yesterday to iron out financial matters and other issues.
A release from Whittaker’s office said that his meeting with the Muni-cipality stemmed largely from complaints flowing to his office from some staff who weren’t paid their October 2014 salaries on time.
The release said that the intervention sought to find ways to correct the problem by looking at the council’s status holistically. He stressed to the council their duty to collect outstanding rates and taxes and to spend those monies in keeping with the Council’s approved Budget.
Whittaker also raised what he said was a “sore concern” of residents, the issue of street vending.
“Minister remarked that while everyone has a right to make an honest living, it is expected that those persons do so in a legitimate way. The Minister went on to say that illegal vendors have an unfair advantage over those market vendors who would have to pay their market fees, while suffering from poor sales due to the street vendors being more upfront attracting more customers”, the release said.
The Minister cited measures that needed to be taken to ensure enforcement of Market Laws and By Laws by the Council’s Constabulary.
He also advised the Council to engage its Constabulary Department on the matter of the enforcement of these Laws and By Laws; including charging and taking illegal vendors to Court.
Commenting on the status of Council’s 2014 Subvention and Budget programmes, the Minister urged the Council to work to complete these and further called on the council to utilize its 2015 budget and Subvention Pro-grammes to focus on “people centred” projects.
The release noted that under Chapter 28:01, not later than November 15, all Municipalities must submit their Estimates of revenues and expenditure of the council for the next Financial Year.
