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Jun 27, 2012

S.S.B. letter to businesses about Benque Town Council Debt

In the west, the sluggish economy is not only affecting the business community but also some town councils. The Benque Viejo Town Council has received a copy of an embarrassing letter that is also being sent to businesses in the area. Apparently the Town Council, under the guidance of the previous Mayor Nick Ruiz, incurred a debt to the Social Security Board (S.S.B.) in excess of one hundred thousand dollars. The S.S.B., unable to collect from the current town council, has decided to send a letter to businesses in the area, requiring them to pay taxes that would go to the town council, directly to the S.S.B.  The letter is dated June thirteenth, 2012 and is signed by Olivia Dakers for the Chief Executive Officer of the S.S.B. The letter says, “Whereas it is believed that you are, or about to become, indebted or liable to make payment to the Benque Viejo Town Board and whereas the said debtor is indebted to the social Security Board pursuant to the provisions of the Social Security Act in the amount of one hundred and nine thousand, nine hundred and twenty dollars inclusive of interest charges. You are hereby required to pay over to the Social Security Board the sum owing to the Town Council in its entirety or the amount of your debt to the debtor at the time the payment is due to the debtor.” Former Mayor Nick Ruiz was lauded by the Guardian Newspaper in 2011 as the best Mayor Benque ever had. The article followed a public battle between Ruiz and a local beauty queen.  News Five called Ruiz several times but he did not respond to our calls. A member of the media did manage to reach Ruiz who reportedly said, “As mayor I left a standing payment arrangement in place.  I don’t know what the situation is and don’t know what you are talking about.” He then said that during his time as Mayor he had met with Leticia Vega, acting C.E.O. and payment arrangements were made to resolve the matter of the debt.


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8 Responses for “S.S.B. letter to businesses about Benque Town Council Debt”

  1. Storm says:

    If the former mayor is telling the truth, then surely there is a written agreement about the payments, Businesses and governments document these things, they don’t just go on verbal “say so.”

    If there is no such agreement, then my belief will be the mayor is telling us a lie to cover up his financial malfeasance.

    Let’s have a public audit and determine the truth, and if money was misappropriated, PLEASE let’s see the officials responsible in jail. We need to hang a mayor every so often to encourage the others.

  2. Rod says:

    I refuse to pay social security it always ends up in the pocket of some one in this gov. You might as well donate it to the poor.

  3. Mose says:

    It might be he left a payment agreement, but for sure Benque presently has the worse incompetent Mayor who knows a sh** about running the Town Council, he needs a lot of management assistant on that side.

  4. bush lawyer says:

    does not sound legal to me, if I owe property tax, and I pay my money to SSB the town council can still charge me for the property tax. I think SSB is out of line here. definitely an illegal move and one design to chokehold the PUP Town Council. Barrow again

  5. Concerned Citizen says:

    This is what the Stars newspaper should have on it’s headlines. Another issue, lots of underage young girls being molested in Benque. however nothing on the Stars newspaper. They have access to the police diaries in San Ignacio and Benque, however when a UDP is implicated in anything, they just keep it in silence. What a biased so called newspaper.

  6. Mildred says:

    Public audit I say for the sake of my town. I would categorize it as a bad administration but for the sake of the party’s reputation they will once again cover up the truth. It is nothing new to know that Mayor Ruiz has a nice house in Chetumal my question is could that be out of that money? Or houses cheap in Chet? Under his administration as a mayor he crashed the Mayors vehicle during a hit and run along with his driver Carlos Guevarra who made it known that he felt bad the mayor did not bother to stop. But once again no one made it known. The gov vehicle was taken immediately to the mechanic. Here in Benque everyone with political affiliation is protected. Nothing has been mentioned about child molestor Alejandro Rios aka Mex employee of area rep Hon Erwin who according to Police cannot be found to hand a summons. Many things going in Benque .

  7. Eye in the Sky says:

    All Belizeans Should STOP Pay Social Security.
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    You get nothing in return.
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    The money is wasted and misspent..
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    The big shots in the Social Security drive Prados, Lexus, and live in fancy house..
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    While the POOL Belizean who has paid his whole life gets Peanuts for pension or Sick Leave.
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    ALL BELIZEANS MUST STOP PAY SOCIAL SECURITY N O W !!! AND SEE HOW QUICK THEY GO BROKE.

  8. sara says:

    An audit should be done. Mr. Ruiz should be held responsible for his stupidity, not paying what was owed. He was the worst mayor. Whay take from this new town board . Benque people do not pay your taxes until an audit has been done. Where disd the money go? there has been no progress done, no projects, do not tell me the Coronation Park was the project , I do not see any thing out of the ordinary. Ruiz= Thief.

Comments are closed