Councillors To Receive Funds For Christmas Work

Minister of State with responsibility for Local Government, Robert Montague, has said that $100,000 will be allocated to each parish councillor for the annual Christmas clean-up programme.
“From my Ministry, I have issued instructions that every councillor, every division in Jamaica, should have $100,000 to start their Christmas programme,” he said, while addressing the swearing in ceremony for the mayor and councillors of the Portmore Municipal Council held last week at the Portmore HEART Academy.
The money, he said, is in addition to funds allocated to the parish councils. “It is a small amount of money but it is a whole heap of councillors, and therefore they have their own funds at the various councils that will top it up,” he pointed out. In the meantime, Mr. Montague said that effective January, parish councils will be responsible for the payment of street lights, public water, and solid waste collection under the Local Government Reform programme.
He said that this new arrangement will promote the efficient delivery of service to Jamaicans. “Many times, street lights are there and they do not work but yet the Ministry pays for it. Many times the garbage truck doesn’t come to collect the garbage yet they are paid for it. Many times we see standpipes just flowing and flowing and other communities need water and we are saying now that with the responsibility now being vested with the council, we hope that the delivery of service to the people would be greatly improved,” he stated. Ten councillors were sworn into the PortmoreMunicipality, with Keith Hinds elected mayor and Owen Saunderson, deputy mayor.