With the Georgetown City Council starting preparation of the municipality’s 2018 budget, Chairman of the Finance Committee Oscar Clarke has directed all departments to review expenditure.
According to a press statement from City Hall, Clarke has said both councillors and officers need to be realistic, while noting that all revenue-earning departments will need to demonstrate how they will maximise their earning capability.
It said Clarke also noted that rates account for approximately 88% of the total revenue of the council and as a result he urged the Treasurer’s Department to enhance its systems to collect rates, while saying workable strategies must be employed to recover outstanding monies owed to the council.
Clarke reportedly also emphasised the importance of the Human Resource Management Department, saying it is critical to ensuring that the council gets value for money in every area. Against this background, he said there must be a careful examination of the structure of every department.
Meanwhile, the statement said Town Clerk Royston King urged that the council take a philosophical approach to the budget. He advised it to determine its vision, goals, and objectives, so that a budget can be crafted to realise same and therefore provide a path of prosperity to the council and the city as a whole.
Mayor Patricia Chase-Green also had advice for the budget team, which she urged to focus on finishing projects. According to Chase-Green, community projects should be given priority, since many plans put forward by constituency councillors are still to be implemented.
The statement did not say when the budget preparation is expected to be completed.
