Citrus cess declared unconstitutional by Supreme Court
Something approaching stability has settled over the citrus industry following almost a year of upheaval in the governance of the Citrus Growers Association. And while today’s ruling in the Supreme Court is not expected to reopen old wounds, it will change the way business is done in the Stann Creek Valley. The ruling, by Justice Michelle Arana, declares that the cess, charged by law to citrus growers for every box of fruit and amounting to around a million dollars a year, is an unconstitutional deprivation of property. The suit was brought by a number of citrus growers who had resigned from the Citrus Growers Association and then requested that the company no longer deduct the thirteen cents a box for orange and ten cents for grapefruit that the Citrus Company normally forwarded to the C.G.A. That request was denied and the dissident growers went to court. Although they have subsequently rejoined the Association the claimants still feel vindicated by the ruling and believe that the time has come to modernise the way the C.G.A. is financed. With the Association now owning a majority of Citrus Products of Belize Limited, its dividends from record profits last year totalled around two million dollars and should remain at that level this year, an amount more than adequate to run this non-profit organisation. Of course those profits, cannot be assured each year and the C.G.A. will at some point need to establish membership fees and a clear set of regulations governing the contributions and benefits associated with C.G.A membership.
In related news, the world market price for orange concentrate has dropped significantly from its earlier lofty levels. It seems that Florida has recovered from hurricanes and disease much faster than expected, while those previous high prices encouraged growth in other producing countries. In the future Citrus Products of Belize is expected to expand its operations into more value added products, aided by its partnership with retail operations in the Eastern Caribbean.
