City Council owes millions of dollars to Belize Maintenance Limited

Darrell Bradley

Of course that is little consolation for workers of Belize Waste Control. And there’s less consolation for the other sanitation company – Belize Maintenance Limited. BML is owed fifteen weeks payment, amounting to more than half a million dollars. And it gets worse because BML is also owed two point five million dollars from a judgment in 2009. And then the worst possible news! The Mayor says that when BML’s contract is up in January 2015, he won’t be renewing it. Bradley says that residents will need to take up the slack.

Darrell Bradley, Belize City Mayor

“That is a contract which costs the city seventy-eight thousand dollars per week. That will expire January of 2015 so that only have roughly a little over a year to deal with that contract, and the thinking that we have is that we will not renew that contract and what we will do is that we will put in place legislation to require people to clean and maintain two feet in front of their property line. I think that the city pays too much for sanitation services. If we could cut that cost down by one half that would be increased cash flow. The BML contract costs the city four point two million dollars per year. If we did not have to pay that bill I wouldn’t need a bond. We would have enough revenues so that we would be able to service the other sanitation contract and so we could meet our commitments in terms of streets and markets and cemeteries and parks and different things like that so that the city does look up and so we would be holding the reins tightly.”

Reporter

“I understand also that there is another issue with BML in regards to non-payment. There’s two point five million which was a judgment I believe in 2009 which is still hanging over the Council’s head. And then I understand that BML hasn’t been paid up to this week for fifteen weeks?”

Darrell Bradley

“The situation with them is that what we usually do is that we pay one versus the other. I’m not familiar with the exact amount of weeks that are behind. But it sounds unusual to a member of the public looking in that you’re in arrears with a sanitation contractor, both of them, for extended periods of time. You’re talking about periods exceeding ten weeks. I’m telling members of the public that that is not unusual for the Council. It sounds unusual but it’s not.”