The Georgetown Mayor and City Council (M&CC) on Friday announced a partial amnesty for defaulting ratepayers on tax interest and penalties.
The Georgetown Municipality Amnesty Programme, which is being guided by a new Municipal Amnesty Policy, is running for four months until March 31, 2022.
Through it, the M&CC hopes to raise its revenue collection by 25% by recovering outstanding property rates.
At a press conference held at City Hall yesterday, Mayor Ubraj Narine and Deputy Mayor Alfred Mentore, who chairs the Council’s Special Circumstances Committee that will review applications for amnesty, said that the programme is intended for both residential and commercial ratepayers of Georgetown.
The programme would see the waiving of interest generated from annual taxes for delinquent rate-payers but it was noted that in some instances only a percentage of interest would be written off.
Urging property owners in the city to take advantage of the initiative, Mayor Narine stressed that the policy will also improve tax collection for the financial wellbeing of the M&CC and will reduce the cost of courts cases to recover taxes.
According to the Amnesty Policy, Georgetown citizens who are interested in the amnesty can apply to the Mayor, Chairman of the Special Circumstances Committee and/or the Town Clerk by filling out a form which can be uplifted from the M&CC. The form will also available on the M&CC’s website.
The applicant, who will also have to pay a non-refundable fee of $500 upon their application, must be either the property owner, the duly authorised power of attorney of the property owner or the duly authorised representative of the property owner.
Mentore noted that in order to prevent persons from using the facility to prey on other people’s property, the Committee may require applicants to provide a certified copy of transport, title, lease, letter of administration or probate as the case may demand, a printout of tax statement of arrears, copy of an official form of the property owner and the power attorney, an updated copy of power attorney, and an updated rating valuation from the valuation office.
In addition, persons, corporations or companies that are applying for the amnesty after they have acquired a property under a previous owner’s name shall submit an updated valuation to change the name on the tax account.
According to Mentore, it is hoped that the amnesty process could be completed within three days so applicants can have an adequate amount of time to pay.
If a person, corporation or company cannot pay the full amount owed, the Special Circumstances Committee will decide whether or not they are eligible for a payment plan, which may be approved by the Committee and executed by the City Administration.
The policy notes that exemption rates will be decided by the Committee and no applicant would receive a 100% exemption without the approval of the M&CC.
In addition, any person who benefits from the amnesty would not be eligible to benefit from another waiver for the next five years.
The policy further states that persons, corporations and companies that fail to take advantage of the policy will be subjected to Parate Execution proceedings instituted by the Town Clerk as provided in the Municipal and District Council Act.
