Above board

Government has absolutely nothing to hide in relation to the collection and usage of the Garbage and Sewage Collection (GSC) levy.

This clear message came from Minister in the Ministry of Finance Ryan Straughn who was responding to recent concerns raised by Opposition Leader Bishop Joseph Atherley, regarding transparency surrounding the tax which was implemented in August 2018.

In fact, Straughn told Barbados TODAY that from the floor of Parliament next week, he plans to bring the public up to speed on just how much the levy has yielded as well as what it was used for. He explained that while some may be tempted to say that garbage collection has not been improved since the tax started, it was important to note that the Sanitation Service Authority (SSA) has been completely weaned from the Consolidated Fund.

He argued that in previous years, Government would have provided the SSA close to $60 million per year, but now the state-owned entity is required to exist on revenue generated from the tax, which has been tacked on to residential and commercial water bills.

“At Parliament next week I will disclose how that tax has performed, now that this issue has been raised. One must remember that the GSC includes both garbage and sewage. In any event the SSA is off Government’s books, so there is no support coming from Government with respect to financing the SSA. The only support that they have received has been in the form of renegotiating previous contracts but there is no support going from central Government to SSA,” said Straughn

On Tuesday, the Opposition Leader told Barbados TODAY that he is far from satisfied with the level of transparency surrounding the collection of the funds, the majority of which is to go towards the country’s garbage collection needs. He argued that given the garbage pileups across the island, there is little to show that the funds are being spent as intended. He therefore called on Government to declare how much the tax has yielded and how much has been spent.

“I am not at all satisfied with the level of transparency and I think we need the quantum that has been achieved through the imposition of that charge and I think the public needs to know how the revenues derived are being utilized to address the serious problems within the system. I don’t think that there is a sufficient amount of information being disseminated to the public,” said Atherley.

However, Straughn was adamant that Government has been above board from the moment the tax took effect last year. He contended that the Opposition Leader’s concerns were unfounded as the manner in which the GSC was expected to work was outlined from day one. He pointed out that it has only been a year since the levy was implemented and it would therefore take some time to bring the SSA back on solid footing.

“I don’t understand why the word transparency is being used because we have nothing to hide. It was outlined from the beginning that as people pay through the BWA, the monies are then transferred directly to the SSA. There isn’t anything not transparent about the process. I can tell you that the GSC is performing very well and I can only ask persons to continue to pay,” the Minister said.

He added: “The reality is that nobody keeps garbage trucks in stock, they are made to order. Persons also need to bear in mind that the GSC only came into effect a year ago and therefore as monies come in, the SSA can begin to re-capitalize. We just ordered an additional 12 garbage trucks and they should be arriving by the end of the year.

“So the GSC will build back the fleet and the only way we are going to get the complement back up to the 65 trucks that used to be in operation in 2008, is if we continue to pay the tax.”
colvillemounsey@barbadostoday.bb