City Hall earns just over GYD$500,000 in two months from parking meters

Last Updated on Thursday, 23 March 2017, 12:25 by Denis Chabrol

The Georgetown City Council earned just over  GYD$500,000 in the two months from the now suspended parking meter project, according to Deputy Mayor, Sherod Duncan.

He told Demerara Waves Online News that figures coming before City Hall’s Finance Committee show City Hall’s 20 percent take from gross revenue amounted to GYD$127,564 in January and GYD$540,240 in February, 2017.

Duncan said on his Facebook profile that documents presented to the Finance Committee showed that the total amount garnered by the City for the two months amounted to GYD$667,804. Sources said the poor showing is largely attributed to the boycott by motorists because the minimum rate of GYD$50 plus Value Added Tax (VAT) for 15 minutes is still steep.

At that meeting, Duncan said Town Clerk Royston King reported that the contractor for the East Street parking lot located between Middle and New Market Streets, Saratu Phillips said “since 2015 no monies were received by the Council for parking fees  from the contractor even though patrons were paying; neither did he request a report on the operations of the parking lot.”

Government ordered the project suspended from March 21, 2017 to facilitate the renegotiation of the contract between the City’s administration and Smart City Solutions, after taking into consideration concerns by government and the wider public.