MAY PEN:
THE CLARENDON Parish Council has continued to record increases in the collection of property taxes for the parish.
The Council's acting director of finance James Samuels, said there was an increase of $3.9 million in the collection of property taxes for the months of July and August, this year, when compared with the corresponding period last year. He said property tax collections totalled just over $5 million for the two-month period.
Following his report to the meeting of the Clarendon Parish Council on Thursday, Mr. Samuels told The Gleaner that despite the increases in the collection of property taxes, there is cause for concern as many property tax notices were returning unclaimed.
He said that with the recent hike in property taxes, some persons are refusing to collect the tax notices. Mr. Samuels said some persons are refusing to accept notices even when they were being hand delivered.
Meanwhile, the subject of punctuality was once again up for debate at the first sitting of the Council after the summer break.
Deputy Mayor Lusson Bartley said that, after the recess, he thought Councillors would have made preparations to be on time at the meeting. He said it is a poor reflection on the regard Councillors had for the people of the parish who voted for them.
Councillor Bartley recommended that a motion should be moved by the Council on the problem.
One of the reasons "the Ministry of Local Government choose with other ministries to remove certain functions from us, (is) because they believe we are not efficient and this is our fault and we have to do better," Councillor Bartley said. He lamented that "when they remove poor relief from Parish Councils it hurt me (and) it is our fault because we sit there and don't do what we have to do."
The Deputy Mayor also urged the Council to play a more active role in the staging of major events such as the Denbigh Agricultural Show.
"The Parish Council is the leading body of this parish and we must not allow Denbigh to (be staged) on Denbigh day and the Parish Council does not have exhibits down there to tell people what we are doing and show them what is a parish council," Councillor Bartley added.
