By Lynford Simpson, Parliamentary ReporterWITH POTENTIALLY hundreds of millions of dollars in statutory deductions owed by Government agencies, both the Ministry of Finance and the Auditor-General's Department have proposed a study to determine why the agencies are so short of cash.
The study is likely to determine whether it is recklessness on the part of the agencies why they fail to meet their monthly bills, or a shortage of cash from the Finance Ministry, in the first place.
ACCOUNTS
The call for a study of the issue was made at yesterday's sitting of Parliament's Public Accounts Committee (PAC), where the accounts of the Ministry of Local Government and Community Development and its departments were examined.
It was disclosed that the Jamaica Fire Brigade (JFB) alone owed $178.5 million in statutory deductions since September 1999. Southern Parks and Markets (SPM), which is under the management of the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA), was delinquent to the tune of $3.43 million for 1998 and 2002; the Social Development Commission was indebted to the Ministry of Finance by nearly $24 million as at March 31, 2001. That amount has since been paid.
Additionally, the PAC was told that four Parish Councils were indebted to the Finance Ministry to the tune of nearly $16 million for protracted periods. The Portland Parish Council owed $5.4 million; St. Elizabeth's owed $4.6 million; Trelawny's $3.1; and St. James's $2.7. All, but $1 million owed by the Portland Parish Council, has since been paid up.
Alston Stewart, chairman of the NSWMA, told the PAC that the authority had asked the ministry to write off the outstanding amount or to allow a payment schedule.
In the case of the JFB and SPM, Audley Shaw, chairman of the PAC said: "It appears that the formula that the Ministry of Finance is putting forward doesn't seem to be working, because
it appears almost unrealistic that critical decisions in fire services have to be made and balanced between salaries ... for firemen and statutory deductions (and between) cleaning the streets and statutory deductions."
Asked for a suggestion, Adrian Strachan, the Auditor-General, said: "I would suggest to the committee that it might wish to recommend that the Ministry of Finance does a study of the state of outstanding statutory deductions with a view to coming up with a strategy to deal with it." He added that "this is something that is right across the board (in all Government agencies)."
Mr. Shaw pointed to the possible implications for persons seeking to access their National Housing Trust and other benefits. However, Mr. Strachan said that most of the agencies were now paying over NIS and NHT deductions, while holding on to Income and Education taxes.
He suggested that the Finance Ministry, having satisfied itself that there was "no serious deficiency" in terms of how resources were used by the agencies and that inadequate resources were at the heart of the matter could, by way of a cash transfer through the Accountant General's department, take care of the arrears. Mr. Shaw agreed, noting that the same matter was dealt with by the PAC every year.
On the proposed study, Robert Martin, Deputy Financial Secretary, said: "We (the Ministry of Finance) are going to look into it and we are going to deal with the matter." He said the ministry was committed to such a probe which was likely to take four to eight weeks.
Barbara James, Permanent Secretary in the Local Government Ministry, said no arbitrary overruns were responsible for its agencies and departments being short of cash. She said the money from the ministry usually arrived short.
