With an outstanding balance of over $218 million owed to the National Insurance Scheme (NIS), the Local Government Commission (LGC) has written to the Mayor and City Council requesting that they begin paying the workers’ deductions.
Acting Town Clerk Sherry Jerrick yesterday informed the council of the correspondence sent to the council from the LGC.
She noted that the correspondence which she received on August 9th, was dated July 31st and stated that the council has been failing to honour its obligation to make NIS remittances.
Jerrick informed the council that the insurance scheme wrote to the LGC requesting their intervention for payments amounting to $218,416,918. The NIS in their letter to the LGC pointed out that City’s Hall failure to pay their workers’ deductions would result in the insurance body being unable to provide benefits due to the employees.
The LGC has asked the council to begin payments immediately and to submit a schedule of how it intends to pay the monies owed.
The council was also asked to furnish the commission with a monthly update on the status of their payments to the NIS.
Jerrick reminded the council that while $218,416,918 is quoted by the commission as being outstanding, the longer they take to make payments, the larger the sum will grow.
She also disclosed to the council that they were currently up to date with NIS payments for this year and that the figure given had accumulated from several years ago.
Union representatives in the tenure of former Town Clerk Royston King had protested for monies deducted from salaries and wages be paid to the NIS.
