M&CC to pursue Govt, private property owners over outstanding rates, taxes in 2026

The Georgetown Mayor and City Council (GM&CC) is preparing to intensify efforts in 2026 to recover millions of dollars in outstanding rates and taxes from both private property owners and Government agencies as part of a broader push to strengthen the municipality’s financial position and improve service delivery across the capital.
Mayor of Georgetown, Alfred Mentore, has confirmed that the Council will be adopting more stringent measures to increase compliance, noting that rates and taxes remain the city’s single largest source of revenue. He revealed that while collection levels have improved in recent years, a significant number of property owners, among them several state agencies, continue to default on their obligations.
Mentore acknowledged that non-payment by Government entities has long been a contentious issue, confirming that several Ministries remain on a list of delinquent property holders.
“While we have market fees and other fees that we collect, rates and taxes is our biggest area of earning, so to speak… I know for sure the Ministry of Sports have honoured their obligation for 2025. I know of the Ministry of Health… but there are many others that have honoured their obligation. There are some others in a file that I have there that I need to [deal] with. Like you suggested, I should have a word with the Ministry of Local Government so that she could cause the Government to honour their obligation to us… And let her cause those matters to be taken to Parliament in their budgetary allocation or whatever they do. For sure, many of these monies are actually allocated, but are not disbursed. And that is something we’ve got to get Government to [deal] with. We’ve got to get Government to honour their obligations to us, because it’s very important,” Mayor Mentore said.
The Mayor also raised concerns about the rapidly changing physical landscape of Georgetown, pointing to the surge in high-rise developments and modern commercial buildings that, he said, are still being taxed based on outdated valuations.
He warned that this imbalance places undue pressure on compliant ratepayers, effectively forcing them to subsidise those who fail to meet their obligations.
Against this backdrop, Mentore reiterated his long-standing call for reform of the Valuation for Rating Purposes Act, arguing that property valuations must reflect current realities. However, he cautioned that any revaluation exercise must be carefully timed to avoid penalising those who already comply.
“It should be a case where valuation for rating purposes or the act itself should be treated without fear or favour because that’s what Government Ministers, city council people sign up to. We sign up to deal with these matters without fear or favour and to be able to deal with matters across the board because what you have is 55 per cent of people honouring the obligation are coming downstairs and paying their rates and taxes. But you have 45 per cent of the people who are delinquent, and many of those persons that are delinquent is, like you said, many of those high rises…I believe the legislation should really and truly allow for a whole new revaluation for rating purposes. It shouldn’t be a case where even if you move to want to increase or to have a new valuation for rating purposes, what it will affect is the 55 per cent of persons that are already paying. You don’t want to put an additional burden on those persons that are already paying. You want to find a way to get people up to date with their payment, encourage that,” he added.
As part of the Council’s 2026 strategy, Mentore disclosed that GM&CC is prepared to utilise existing legal mechanisms to compel delinquent property owners to pay, though he stressed that selling properties is not the Council’s preferred route.
“We’re not interested in selling people’s property,” he said. “But the law allows us to move to the Magistrate’s Court – for distress warrants, for petty debt – and we will use those avenues if necessary to get people to fall in line.”
He added that once compliance improves, the Government could then move toward a comprehensive revaluation exercise for the city and, eventually, other regions.
“Our aim is to move from 55 per cent compliance to 65, 75, 85 – and hopefully 100 per cent,” Mentore said.