The mayor gets his money but says the city has been short-changed
Almost as quickly as it came before the court of public opinion, the battle between Minister of Local Government Hubert Elrington and the City Council appears to be over. Mayor Jose Coye says the May subvention, which was being held up by Elrington, was released today… but not without some strings attached.
Jose Coye, Belize City Mayor
“Yes, I got word today from the financial manager that the subvention had been paid, but that it had been reduced. The subvention, as the budget choose was for one point two million there abouts, which amounted to a one hundred and five thousand a month disbursement. The voucher came but it said that there was an error in the subvention that was paid in April, which was one hundred and five thousand, annual would have given you the one million two hundred and sixty four thousand. But they are saying now that there was an error in the April subvention and they are adjusting it. If you look in the budget, the budget is quite clear as to what is the subvention of the Belize City Council, which is one million two hundred and sixty four thousand.”
Q: “You’ve gotten the subvention less fifteen thousand dollars, how will that affect you?”
Jose Coye
“Affectively, it’s less thirty thousand because what they are claiming is that they made a mistake in April so they are taking back the fifteen thousand that they overpaid in April and therefore they are deducting from that ninety thousand the fifteen thousand”
Q: “How adversely will that affect the council this month?”
Jose Coye
“Well certainly it will not have that sort of impact that the whole amount would have had, only to the extent that it is reduced. It still stands to what we are saying; the point that we wanted to make apart from the quant of income of the subvention we are dealing with a violation of the law.”
Q: “So do you think this situation has been resolved and come June we will not find you and Mr. Elrington locking horns over subventions again?”
Jose Coye
“Well it won’t be me and Mr. Elrington but I think it will be Mr. Elrington and the people. I am only representing them, no.”
The Mayor says the issue of Value Added Tax continues to be a sore point for the Council. To date, Coye says, the Council has paid over three hundred thousand dollars into the national treasury from VAT and none of it has been refunded, despite repeated appeals.
While the situation over the council’s subvention seems to have been amicably resolved, at least for now, the public lecturing that the Mayor got at the hands of Minister Elrington continues to be a hot topic of discussion. At an afternoon press conference Wednesday, Elrington’s blistering attack on Coye ranged from accusations of dishonesty to inebriation. But Coye says he’s not going to join Elrington in the gutter.
Jose Coye
“There’s one thing I have learnt Mr. Jones; in politics I think we should rise on our own merits and those who don’t have any to rise on are likely to pull down others so they can rise above them. I ignore those kinds of criticisms.”
To hear more from Minister Elrington, viewers can tune in to tonight’s One on One with Dickie Bradley.
