Belize City Revenue Collection Dropped during COVID

Bernard Wagner

Earlier in the newscast, we spoke with Mayor Bernard Wagner about his return to work and the COVID cases at City Hall. We also asked him about the impact of the pandemic on Belize City revenues.

Bernard Wagner, Belize City Mayor

“In 2020, we collected two point three million dollars in property taxes, and that was when COVID was on the onset.  Normally it would be more than that. But in 2021, it’s at one point four million dollars. So that’s a significant drop. In traffic revenues, one point zero eight in 2020, it’s one point three so that has been performing okay. Licenses from sixty thousand dollars to three hundred and thirty-five thousand and again sixty thousand dollars in June of 2020 and now in June of 2021, three hundred and thirty-five thousand. Fees….we can clearly see that fees that we collect from the market, the cemetery and other parks and playgrounds have tremendously dropped as well. So, the service output that the Council could provide has to be curtailed, and that is where you see in some instances we have not been able to do the required infrastructure on some streets are deteriorating immensely. But it’s all a part of the effects of the COVID pandemic and I continue to reach out to residents that priorities change.”