City Manager suspended by council

Missing money at the Belize City Council has resulted in the City Manager being suspended. The official account from the City Council is that Marcia Mahler, the city manager for the past two and a half years, was suspended on the fourth of December and is now on leave until the fourteenth of January. According to Mayor David Fonseca, there were a number of reasons for her suspension, none of which are being disclosed by the council at this time. But reports to our newsroom indicate one reason why Mahler was suspended was that she was unable to produce receipts for several thousand dollars of council money advanced to her to purchase Christmas decorations while on a personal trip to the United States. News 5’s attempts to contact Mahler about her suspension were unsuccessful. We understand that her contract officially ends early in the new year.