BWS and CitCo still ironing out the kinks of garbage bill

The Municipal Bond Prospectus 2012 was launched on Thursday by Mayor Darrell Bradley to much fanfare from the Belize City Council, officials from the Central Bank, as well as members of the business community.  But while City Hall is inviting the public to invest in the twenty million dollar loan, it has also announced it will raise taxes to offset the loss of revenues that will be paid into a sinking fund held by Central Bank.  Mayor Bradley has repeatedly announced that a new residential garbage collection fee will be introduced in mid-December.  The ushering in of the ten dollar fee, according to Bradley, follows negotiations with Belize Water Services Ltd., which will serve as a collecting agent.  Residents are to receive the first garbage bill tacked onto their water bills in the weeks ahead and it is to be paid by early January. But BWS has thrown a wrench in the Mayor’s plans. In a press release today, BWS says that an agreement with the City Council has not been finalized. The mayor, it seems, preempted the outcome of the discussions and BWS is now making clear the conditions under which such an arrangement can become effective.  Firstly, the utility company would have to establish another database using its billing software to create a separate bill for garbage fees. Subsequently, CitCo would have to notify BWS of all customers that will be receiving garbage bills, since it cannot be assumed that every BWS customer will be charged for garbage collection.  BWS would then update that invoice to coincide with its bill delivery cycle.  Most importantly, BWS will not be disconnecting its customers for non-payment of garbage fees, in view of the fact that both bills are to be treated individually.  While negotiations continue it is unclear, at this point, whether an initial garbage collection fee will be issued by December fifteenth.