No approval granted: Town Clerk never received permission to impose fees

City garbage collection

…ordered to hold public consultation

No approval was granted to Town Clerk Royston King to impose a $200 garbage collection fee in the city of Georgetown.
At the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) statutory meeting on Monday, Mayor Patricia Chase Green noted that the full council was yet to approve that proposal and has since ordered Town Clerk King to hold at least one public consultation exercise and present a firm proposal to the Council for approval.

King admitted to the Mayor and City Councillors, at Monday’s statutory meeting, that the collection fee was discussed at the level of the Finance Committee and was raised at the last statutory meeting, but no decisive action was taken on it. He claimed that the matter was put in the public sphere for feedback and they have received positive feedback ever since.
However, Chairman of the Finance Committee, Councillor Oscar Clarke said that a firm proposal of all the implications must be brought to the Council for agreement and approval before the charge was implemented. This was agreed to by Mayor Green, who ordered that it be done while directing the Town Clerk to ensure that public consultation was done before the implementation phase.
“I would like to have one public consultation where you invite everybody. Explain to them why you do this, what you’re doing this for,” she instructed.

Garbage collection fee
On Friday, King unveiled a plan to begin charging residents of Georgetown $200 per barrel of garbage monthly despite them paying the requisite rates and taxes.
“It is the principle that we believe that the residents should make a contribution to the collection…We are determining the modalities and they would have to pay at City Hall. We have systems in place to track all our movements at the moment and we would put systems in place to ensure that everyone complies with this,” he had stated.

The intent of the fee implementation is to broaden the Council’s revenue base so that it can meet its expenses. The Council’s two garbage contractors Puran Brothers Disposal and Cevons Waste Management withdrew their services on July 30, 2017, as City Hall’s debts had risen to the multimillion-dollar range. According to the companies, the issue of non-payment has been a long-standing one, with many debts going as far back as 2015.
However, they had resumed collection after the municipality approached Central Government through the Communities Ministry for a bailout of $475,635, 245 to settle the city’s debt to Puran Brothers, Cevons, and another company after they would have pulled their services owing to non-payment.
The bailout was granted, and Central Government decided to pick up the tab until December 31, after which the M&CC would step in. The Council is expected to procure two new garbage trucks to aid in its collection, by the end of June.