Tenth Celebration Cut Short, No Municipal Fair This Year

The spirit of the annual September Celebrations has been dampened somewhat with a dismal announcement coming out of City Hall this evening.  A press release issued by the Belize City Council informs that the Municipal Fair which succeeds the Citizens’ Parade on the Tenth of September has been canceled.  That’s because, according to CitCo, the subvention given to the municipal body by central government has been docked by twenty percent this year.  The council says that it has been planning for the annual event for the past few months; however, in a meeting held with the National Celebrations Commission last Wednesday, it was made abundantly clear that the allotment has been reduced considerably.  The knock-on effect has resulted in the Municipal Fair being scrapped altogether, leaving thousands of revelers to find an alternative after-parade event to attend on that day.  Already facing austerity, CitCo says it cannot afford to foot the bill, more so since a legitimate reason for cutting the budget has not been provided.  Deputy Mayor Oscar Arnold convened a press brief earlier today.

Oscar Arnold, Deputy Mayor, Belize City

Oscar Arnold

“The Tenth which falls on a Monday, I believe, the activities out at Memorial Park remain the same, the official ceremonies, all of that stuff.  I think what you are alluding to is the Tenth bram which was scheduled for after the ceremonies.  That has been cut out of the list of items that will be done this September.”

Isani Cayetano

“Can you give us a reason why?”

Oscar Arnold

“Again, it’s budgetary constraints.  The information that I received from the people here at city council is that the outlay for the budget was cut by twenty percent this year, from the NICH Institute.”

Reporter

“Can I ask what that budget covers?”

Oscar Arnold

“Well, each municipality receives a budget every year and this is to cover the activities that it holds throughout the calendar for the September, beginning of September to the Twenty-first of September, all the activities there.  It goes towards budget support because obviously, all these items cost far more than what they budget for or they provide for.  So with our budget being cut by twenty percent, the council and the team here, the PR team and so on, had to look at what they could do to try to see how best we could use these monies.”

Isani Cayetano

“Now there is one National Celebrations Commission and there are all these municipalities that are basically subsidized by monies allotted from the NCC.  Is the Belize City Council the only municipality that has experienced this twenty percent cut?”

Oscar Arnold

“From the information that we’ve received, and this is from reliable information from within the inner circle at NICH, that yes we are the only municipality that was cut.”

Isani Cayetano

“Did you guys press to find out why?”

Oscar Arnold

“We did ask and it was just explained to us that the cuts were necessary because of their funding.”