Delinquent City Hall exploring options to pay off NIS debt

The Mayor and City Council (M&CC) is yet to figure out how it will clear its $218 million debt to the National Insurance Scheme (NIS), but has begun a series of meetings with that agency to find a solution.

This is according to Mayor of Georgetown, Ubraj Narine, who told this publication during an interview on Wednesday that several options are presently being explored by City Hall to pay NIS.
Blaming taxpayers for the situation, the Mayor claimed that had taxpayers paid their taxes, the M&CC would not have been in its current financial state.
“It is a norm at City Hall, which in the entire public is aware of that if people do not pay their rates and taxes, how can we do work in the city? How can we sustain our staff? I must say that the struggle is on at City Hall where we are trying to battle all around to find ways and means in the right way to garner revenue to maintain the City,” the Georgetown Mayor explained.
He stated that City Hall has been experiencing major financial difficulties for many years to date that range from late payments to staff, non-payment to garbage collectors, and failure to pay NIS the monthly contributions of its workers.
“These NIS and all these issues with finance should not happen in the first instance. Anything you do, whether at a country level or at a city level, you need money, you cannot expect the city to come at your door and do something. Where would we find this money to pay these people to execute the duty of the City Hall?”
Narine also reminded and reiterated that several taxpayers, both commercial and residential, still owe millions of dollars in arrears to City Hall and that they are yet to settle those accounts. In fact, he had previously revealed that over 100 city businesses owe taxes to the M&CC.
The Mayor has recently admitted that the situation becomes so severe at times that the Council is unable to pay staffers some months. According to the Insurance Act, it is a criminal offence if entities fail to pay their contributions by the due date. Those who refuse to pay can be prosecuted.
Last August, City Hall workers took to the streets in front of City Hall as they protested the non-payment of NIS contributions among others. It was reported that City Hall deducts the NIS contributions, PAYE, and credit union dues from the earnings of workers but do not pay the relevant agencies.