| City Hall was yesterday able to pay contractors $5M of the amount owed to them for garbage disposal works. However the payment,Wholesale Jerseys, which represents a fraction of the actual amount, owed will not be sufficient enough to see the contractors resuming their operation.According to the municipality’s Public Relations Officer, Royston King,NFL Jerseys China, each of the contractors, Cevon’s Waste Management and Puran Brothers Disposal Service,Cheap Jerseys China, were each paid $2.5M.King acknowledged that the amount paid has allowed for a resolution of the situation,Wholesale NFL Jerseys Authentic, which has seen a halt to the garbage collection process in several sections of the city.The contractors, King admitted, are owed in excess of $60M but that the municipality is doing everything in its power to bring an end to the unfortunate situation.“We regret this. But this is the reality and of course our Treasury Department as well as other officials including the Director of Solid Waste Management are continuing to work assiduously to see how much we can generate the rest of the money to pay the contractors.”However, Deputy Mayor, Robert Williams, is optimistic that the municipality will be able to unearth enough funds to pay off the contractors by Friday.Williams related the municipal Finance Committee met on Tuesday and had discussions with the administration during which emphasis was placed on mobilising monies for payment for service that will be provided throughout this month. At the meeting it was highlighted too,Cheap Jerseys From China, that the municipality is in arrears with payments for three months with the garbage contractors thus prior must be given towards them.As part of the mobilising efforts, Williams said that a request has been made to Central Government for the payment of the first half of its 2009 property taxes.He added that City Mayor Hamilton Green is also on a mission to persuade corporate entities to pay up their taxes even as efforts are being made to urge residential taxpayers to comply.“We are also stepping up legal action against property owners who have defaulted and have made no effort towards liquidating their indebtedness.We will not spare those property owners that we consider very arrogant when they are approached to be told about their indebtedness as reported by the officers in the field.”In addition, the Deputy Mayor said that the municipality is currently recruiting valuation officers to complete the assessments of properties that have developed in one form or another over the last three years.He said that owners of such properties will be obligated to pay the taxes on the increase valuation on any development on the basis of the 1998 assessed value until the municipality is issued with the new valuation role.And according to him, each day since the Finance Committee met, the municipality has been able to see success in terms of taxpayers’ response.He however noted that there is no telling to what extent the city will be affected before the municipality is able to fully settle its debt.The Public Relations Officer has said that the municipal staffers are still collecting pathological waste from the public hospital and waste from the city abattoir.The city market environs are however kept clean as Cevon’s Waste Management, through private contracts with vendors, continues to collect garbage.In the meantime, King said that the municipality is continuing to appeal to residents not to put out their garbage receptacles,Cheap Jerseys Supply, as they will not be picked up.“We are asking them to hold it for us or if in any way they can get it to the landfill site we will be ready and willing to collect it there,” King assured. |
