In an effort to curb the financial strain facing City Hall owing to outstanding payments, Town Clerk Royston King has announced that the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) is in the process of initiating legal proceedings against business owners who owe large sums of money to the municipality.
King made this announcement during the Council’s Statutory Meeting on Monday.
During the session, Georgetown Mayor Patricia Chase Green also revealed that the Council intended to repossess leased lands from persons who were not utilising them.
According to the Town Clerk, several businesses – including National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL); Guyana National Engineering Corporation (GNEC) and Central Garage Incorporation – owe the M&CC significant sums.
He said too that the monies, once recovered, would be utilised to facilitate further development in the city.
Mayor Chase Green further explained that over the years, the M&CC leased portions of land to persons and many of those lands were not being utilised, so she called for the lands in question to be repossessed.
Earlier in the year, it was revealed that City Hall had become cash-strapped and was unable to pay staff and contractors to complete many projects it had embarked on in Georgetown.
Having confirmed this, the Mayor explained that it was as a result of many persons not paying their taxes on time, adding too that many businesses owed millions at a time.
Since then, there has been talk of having the reins tightened on debtors in an effort to persuade them to pay their outstanding dues.
