Garbage fees pile up; workers protest City Hall’s non-payment

While Mayor Moya Flowers has kept mum on the under-depositing at CitCo, another problem that won’t go away is the issue of the unpaid debts for garbage collection. For the umpteenth time, employees of Belize Maintenance Limited protested the persistent problem. News Five’s Duane Moody has a report.

Duane Moody, Reporting
Some seventy employees waved placards and posters expressing their discontent with the lack of payment for services in the last ten weeks.

Joe Lawrence, Operations Manager, B.M.L.
“They haven’t been paying B.M.L. the way they should. Now, we have to cut staff, some people are not working right now. People have to feed their children, they have bills to pay and it’s a sorrow situation. It’s anguish and punishment for these people. We have close to one hundred and seventy people working for us and currently we have a little over maybe forty working for us right now. It’s quite a considerable amount. We really had to cut down on staff.”

When we approached the Council, we were told that neither the councilors nor the mayor were in office. But Councilor Philip Willoughby appeared within minutes with his version.

Philip Willoughby, Councilor for Garbage
“This is what has been taking place for the last couple months, the Belize City Council receives one hundred and twenty thousand dollars subvention from the Government of Belize. When that particular subvention comes in, we program that to service the sanitation contractors whenever we receive the head tax money, those are also used to program to take off our sanitation liabilities. Notwithstanding that, something did not go according to those procedures so as to ensure that the sanitation companies would have been able to able due until the finances of the council has picked up. At the end of the day what I will table and suggest because we will meet tomorrow to discuss sanitation matters—listen to me might as well to start new and fresh, consider or contemplate selling the commercial centre, getting rid of that. It is mortgaged but at a fair cost, sell the City Hall, pay off what we have to pay and build a new building and move on and reconcile.”

Lawrence Ellis of B.M.L. says that the council’s debt to the company is in the tune of two point seven million dollars.

Lawrence Ellis, G.M., B.M.L.
“Since June nineteenth, we have not been paid for some ten weeks and it just came to a point where we just simply can’t afford to just paying for the service and we are not getting paid. The council is telling me that things will get better until November. We cannot carry it until November. We simply just can’t afford that.”

Duane Moody
“What is the total that is owing to B.M.L.?”

Lawrence Ellis
“The total amount owing to B.M.L. over the past five years is two point seven million dollars. For the past ten weeks is seven hundred and seven thousand.”

While the protest was in progress, information circulated by fax alleged that Willoughby was behind the demonstration.

Philip Willoughby
“You have to check the number and see weh dat fax come from. If ih come from di City Hall then somebody in there the try undermine me.”

Lawrence Ellis
“That’s just mischief making if I was collecting money. Mister Willoughby cannot be collecting money, if I am not collecting any money, obviously. So that is totally false.”

Sources tell News Five that the document was faxed from a number adjacent to the mayor’s office where the secretary sits. Duane Moody, reporting for News Five.

B.M.L. says it is considering legal action.