Oct 5 is City’s Budget Day

Last Updated on Tuesday, 26 September 2023, 22:20 by Denis Chabrol

The Georgetown City Council will be presenting its 2023 budget on Thursday, October 5 after the Finance Committee meets on October 2 to finalise details for the package of expenditures.

The decision was made at Tuesday’s statutory meeting of the Mayor and City Councillors.

After exchange of views by People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPPC) Councillor and A Partnership for National Unity’s (APNU) Councillor, Clayton Hinds over whether the draft budget should first be considered by the Finance Committee and then taken back to the full council, it was agreed that the Committee meeting would suffice.

Mr Hinds’ recommendation that the Finance Committee should meet to consider the draft budget but that any other councillor was free to join the meeting was accepted by the majority of the elected officials.  His position was similar to that of PPPC Councillor, Patricia Chase-Green. “The discussion cannot be among the members of the Finance Committee alone. It has to be among all councillors,” she said.

Meanwhile, ahead of preparations for the 2024 City Budget, Mayor Alfred Mentore said proportional representation (PR) and constituency councillors needed to need to “roll-out” outreaches and community meetings to “understand their felt needs.”

The Georgetown City Council’s 2022 budget was more than GY$2 billion.

Georgetown’s drainage network is in a deplorable state with many canals filled with silt and drains and trenches choked by domestic and commercial waste including plastic drink bottles, plastic bags and other objects.