City Hall earns tax windfall after interest rate formula change

Last Updated on Monday, 31 August 2026, 23:08 by Writer

The city administration is raking in millions of dollars in unpaid debts after the interest rate on outstanding rates and taxes was changed from compound interest to simple interest, top officials of the Georgetown City Council said.

“It (simple interest) brings substantial relief to a lot of people. As a result, people started to come in and pay,” Chairman of the City Council’s finance committee Lelon Saul told Demerara Waves Online News.

“We have seen an increase in our revenue where we are no longer struggling to pay staff,” he added.

He said the city treasury had been charging daily compound interest up to 2021 when the High Court ruled essentially that that was “unconscionable” and that ratepayers should be charged simple interest.

He explained that the decision was implemented from the date of the court ruling but did not make it retroactive.

Mr Saul said the council in early July, 2026 implemented the decision retroactively to 1997, but those persons who had already paid accumulated debts calculated on compound interest would not benefit.

He said under the daily compound interest calculation, the indebtedness was higher than the value of properties.

Ahead of a detailed analysis of the changed financial fortunes, Mr Saul said normally during July and August, the city administration “starts tip-toeing” to pay staff, but this year workers were paid the at same time with central government workers, and also executed a small project of GY$4 million in Albouystown.

Among the immediate priorities is the completion of the new administration building whose construction started more than 15 years ago “with our money”.

Using estimated figures, he said total collections from January to July 2025 has increased from GY$892.4 million to GY$921.1 million in 2026.

He said, specifically, revenue from rates and taxes over the past three years—in July 2024 it was GY$87 million, GY$54 million in July 2025 and in July 2026—soared to GY$116.6 million.

“We are seeing more people compared to August month generally,” he said.

Georgetown Mayor, Alfred Mentore first made the disclosure at the launch of activities to mark the city’s 184th anniversary.

“We had compound interest over simple interest and we’ve been working on those measures to be able to deal with those issues to bring the kind of relief to our citizens,” he told reporters.

He said if property owners continue to owe hefty sums, they would be taken to court.

Ideally, he said the council does not want to sell properties but find workable solutions such as taking loans.

“If we are going to move to court with those persons, we will force them to be able to take a mortgage out to honour their obligations,” he said.

Mr Mentore said the government still had a responsibility to fund the local government councils and “blame those persons when they don’t do their job” instead of taking over responsibilities.

“Had we the requisite resources, we would be able to do a lot more,” he said.

Despite the tax revenue windfall, the chairman of the finance committee reiterated the need for a new rates and taxes assessment because the rates are “very low”.

Alternatively, the central government could subsidise city council’s operations, he said.