No 2016 receipt from shipping company at City Hall – tax collecting officer

M&CC CoI

Taxes, rates and other payments to the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) were examined on Monday as the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) got underway, and it was disclosed that there were no records of payment by Quick Shipping Incorporated for 2016, but the company disputed this by submitting its receipts to the CoI.
Giving her evidence before retired Justice Cecil Kennard, City Treasury Department Tax Collecting Officer Kim Forbes explained that she was unaware of the Lombard Street Wharf lease until it was published in the media.
However, upon checking her files, documents were found for the said property and two payments of $625,000 were rendered for the years 2017 and 2018. A receipt which was presented to the Commission by the company was examined by Forbes, who failed to recognise the signatures on the document and further claimed that it was not produced by the current software in use by City Hall.
In April of 2016, the lease was granted by Town Clerk Royston King for the shipping company to operate. While a letter was sent to the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL) for permission, it was insinuated that King did not submit the document to the Council for deliberations as was mandatory.
Upon hearing that there were no records for the monies being paid, Justice Kennard noted, “Payments would have had to be made”.
It is unclear who collected the $625,000 for 2016 since the amount was allegedly paid.
It was explained by Forbes that the lease process involved the submission of an application by the client, which was sent to the Finance Committee. It is then taken to full council where discussions are facilitated. If the lease is granted, the Town Clerk would then proceed to prepare the relevant documents.
“The application will come in to the Council. It is forwarded to the Finance Committee, then it goes to full council for approval [and] then the Town Clerk’s office prepares the lease,” she related.

Waivers
Forbes was also subjected to answer to the process of waivers and amnesty, and she noted that the Council must decide whether or not such financial pardons should be given.
A letter is usually written to the Town Clerk by the citizen and is later sent to the Sub-Finance Committee. The next step involves the summoning of the applicant for talks, and a pronouncement is taken thereafter. This is later sent to the City Treasury for procession and the tax collecting officer is notified after the pardon is granted. Certain criteria would determine the percentage of money that is waived.
It was emphasised that all meetings were to be held in the chambers of City Hall and no sole individual was authorised to meet with these clients.
This statement challenges the assertion that was made by Giftland Mall, which stated that King convened a meeting between himself and the Chairman of the establishment, Roy Beepat, where a special arrangement was promised to waive taxes and rates for the years 2015 and 2016.
Consultant of MCG Investments Inc, Ray Hugh had represented Beepat and told the Commission that this deal was settled because the company had carried out a private contractual bargain to fix the roads and drains, install streetlights and pay for garbage collection. Consequently, for 2017, Giftland Mall would only be required to pay a sum of $11,467,500 after the interest and penalties would have been waived.
King was required to respond via a letter after the engagement to confirm the agreements and a schedule would subsequently be sent by Beepat, verifying how the payments would be made. The Town Clerk made no attempts to answer to these calls until April of 2016, when he indicated via a letter that the agreement ‘no longer stood’ because of ‘certain circumstances’ including the ‘lapse of time’.

Current indebtedness
Legal Assistant Sherwin Benjamin referred to outstanding revenues owed to the Council, and sought to ask the tax collecting officer as to whether City Hall could be sustained if all the revenues were collected. Forbes answered in the affirmative.
“If we collect all our delinquent taxes; yes, we would be able to cover all of our expenses,” she confirmed.
For 2018, 67 per cent of the budgeted figure was collected, inclusive of arrears. In the month of September, revenue collection took a dive, so it is unlikely that the same amount of revenue will be collected for the last quarter.
Last month, there was an announcement that the reason for City Hall’s cash-strapped situation was the large amount of debt owed by large businesses, totalling over $4 billion.
It was said that many large business enterprises are guilty of undervaluing their properties and assets, which ensures that they pay less than required. Additionally, in many instances, the business owners are paying a standard domestic rate, when in fact they should be paying the commercial rate.
With respect to the state of affairs at City Hall, Forbes stated: “We’re lacking a lot of guidance. A lot of the procedures don’t be followed. There is great need for some systems to be put in place.”