The Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) wants the finances of City Hall to be subjected to an urgent and scrupulous audit exercise in order to create a convivial environment in which the recently elected municipal administration can function.
“With new management in charge of running the affairs of the city the logical step should have been an audit of the affairs of the City Council, in particular its financial affairs in order to uncover and discover weaknesses in the system which need to be addressed in order to avoid putting the current City Council in further difficulties,” President of the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) Vishnu Doerga has told the Stabroek Business.
“Running a broken system is not going to work for City Hall. It will have to ensure that the system is functioning properly if it is to manage effectively,” Doerga said.
Whether City Hall will see the Chamber President’s utterance as a piece of sound advice or an unwarranted intervention in its internal affairs is unclear, though Georgetown Mayor Patricia Chase-Green has already publicly pronounced on what she says is the desirability of private sector avoiding interference in the running of the city.
However, Doerga, who headed a Chamber delegation that met City Hall officials, including the Mayor, a week ago, is insistent that City Hall should pursue the option of an audit before it proceeds too far into its tenure. According to Doerga, “In the private sector if a CEO reports that half of the customers owe the company there would not be a discussion. An audit would point out the inefficiencies.” This is a thinly veiled reference to the large sums of uncollected rates accruing to City Hall.
Asserting that payment of rates by the private sector is non-negotiable, Doerga said the Chamber is in full agreement that any citizen who uses the services has an obligation to pay rates. He insisted, however, that it is the responsibility of City Hall to pursue diligent, workable and legitimate rate-collection strategies. “It is of great concern that the amount outstanding to the City Council has escalated and it also points to the need to ensure that better collection methods are put in place,” the GCCI President said.
Doerga told Stabroek Business that the agreed agenda for last Friday’s meeting with City Hall comprised the controversial plan by City Hall to introduce a new parking meter system as well as the recent announcement on a $25,000 tax which City Hall says is already in force for businesses unloading containers in the capital. He said the Chamber was skeptical about an approach to revenue collection which simply seemed to add to the cost of doing business in the city.
He noted that the council needs to do its job and become more efficient at collecting rates already owed as the same people who are paying their rates will now have to pay these additional revenue generators. “Whereas the people who are not paying will continue not to pay,” Doerga added.
And the Chamber President said he was concerned that further revenue-generating measures will have the effect of increasing the burden on consumers.
“Any additional costs will automatically become one of the costs of doing business and will be passed on to the consumer. Some businesses may do their best to demonstrate corporate social responsibility but beyond a certain point there is no flexibility,” he stated.
Doerga, meanwhile, made no secret of the fact that the Chamber felt ambushed by the announcement earlier this week of a 10 per cent hike in rates for residential and commercial properties from the beginning of 2017. He noted that while discussion on the issue had ensued prior to last Friday’s meeting between the Council and the Chamber no mention was made of the hike in rates, a move which he described as “arbitrary.”
Asked about the outcome of the Chamber’s discourse with City Hall on the latter’s announced intention to implement a parking meter system in the city despite the widely expressed concern over what its critics cite as an imposition that lacks the benefit of public consultation, Doerga said that now that the matter has been passed to the Attorney General’s Chambers the Council has already expressed its views at that level. “Our major concern has to do with the lack of procurement policies being followed. Is this really the best solution for the city? How do we know we got the best deal? The Attorney General’s Chambers is the correct place for it. Let it go there. Let it be reviewed and then let’s see what the outcome is,” Doerga said, adding that another of the “major concerns” of the Chamber had to do with “the need to arrive at a solution that best meets the needs of the city,” though he added that from a business standpoint, parking meters were likely to make every purchase at every business location more expensive for vehicle owners.
