Minister Norman Whittaker
Acting Local Government and Regional Development Minister Norman Whittaker said he will not approve the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) budget for 2014, which is currently at his office for review.
Speaking with Guyana Times International on Tuesday, Whittaker said he will not approve the financial estimates for the cash-strapped council because of the heavy deficit and a number of other reasons.
Whittaker told this publication that not only is the budget a deficit, but it also lacks the assent of Georgetown Mayor Hamilton Green and Deputy Mayor Patricia Chase-Greene.
He said the budget was submitted with expected revenue totalling some Gy$2.1 billion and Gy$2.3 billion in expenditure, which reflects a Gy$0.2 billion deficit.
The minister said he is not willing to assent to any budget that has a deficit unless the monies recorded in the deficit are to be used for emergency works.
Provisions
He noted too that there were some provisions in the budget for local government elections, among other things, provisions which according to him should not be in the budget for the City Council. Whittaker further indicated that his staff is currently going through the council’s budget.
Meanwhile, Georgetown Mayor Hamilton Green said he is not even aware that the council’s budget for 2014 was submitted to the ministry for review.
“I don’t know that the budget was sent out in the first place, I am not aware that it was sent out to him (Minister Whittaker).” Mayor Green contended that he has set another statutory meeting for next Tuesday, where the budget would be discussed. He noted that this was yet another violation by the Town Clerk Carol Sooba, who according to him, has violated protocol several times in the past.
Sooba has also expressed the view that the budget has allocations for some things that should not be provided for under the City Council. The revised budget proposal was presented to the local government minister for approval a few weeks ago.
Earlier rejection
The first budget, which was presented to the city council in November 2013, was not approved by the council. The council had objected to the budget, citing that the Finance Committee did not take into consideration various issues that were indicated as being pertinent to the effective functioning of the council.
Among the issues were the upgrade and rehabilitation of all municipal departments and funds for the daily cleanup exercise of the city. They also looked at the council’s liabilities, making special reference to the M&CC’s huge Guyana Power and Light (GPL) deficit, which has caused some concern over the years, among other expenses.
