Recently re-elected Mayor of Georgetown, Ubraj Narine, has called for the reformation of the Municipal and District Councils Act (Chapter 28:01), which speaks to the functioning of council and the operation management in collecting taxes among other matters.
Mayor Ubraj Narine
On the sidelines of a recent event, Narine noted that the section, which specifically speaks to building codes is one which needs to be reviewed. They are hoping to ensure that this request is granted in the coming year.
“We need to have a reform of [Chapter 28:01] and which carry the building codes and so on. Those things need to be reviewed. I will push for that in 2020,” he said.
As it relates to business properties in the capital city, the Council continues to face challenges tax collection. An ongoing process is the revaluation of properties to which the Georgetown Mayor updated that the subject ministry is currently making changes.
“It’s something that the Ministry of Communities is presently working on. Because you have three, four and five-storey buildings in the city paying $5000, $12,000 [and] $6000 per year… The business people out there need to consider all of these things”.
Just a few months ago, Communities Minister Ronald Bulkan has stated that when the revaluation of properties across the country is completed, this data will be provided to municipalities for them to impose taxes and earn revenue.
Technical support was ordered previously to conduct the entire process and should be completed in 18 months from the initial date. This means properties and vacant lands would be revalued to determine its current worth and how much the owners should be taxed.
As soon as the process is completed, local organs will be previewed to this information and can, therefore, earn revenue for their constituencies via a new method.
“This information will be handed over to each council who will use it as they see fit. There will be no dictation or direction from central government as to how this information will be used. This revaluation exercise will help to restore equity to rates, proportionate of values of property but, moreover, immeasurably strengthen the revenue of councils and will enable informed decision making,” Bulkan had said.
Concerns were raised about exploitive tactics which might be adopted by these democratic councils to garner revenue but Bulkan reassured that this will not transpire.
“Councils will be able to defend the rates applied vis-a-vis the services to be provided. Fundamentally, it is not expected to result in burdensome rates to domestic property owners but the bottom line is that citizens expect efficient services which comes at a cost”.
Last year, the Opposition had called out Government for the increases in taxes, which were visibly stifling the working class. It stated that they would not support such projects since citizens are burdened with taxes at the national level.
