We all want to live in a shining city by the sea - but how many of us are willing to pay for it?
That's the quandary that faces Belize City residents as Mayor Darrell Bradley is trying to modernize and upgrade a city that's been neglected for decades.
Last night we told you all about the municipal bond he wants to float, which if successful, would raise twenty million dollars.
And while he wants regular folks to invest in it - he's also depending on those regular city residents to make it more the bond more viable by juicing up the city's' revenue stream.
That means paying a monthly tax for garbage collection, paying your property taxes and paying for parking.
Bradley outlined some of those revenue generating measures in his press conference yesterday - here's what he said:..
Mayor Darrell Bradley
"The re-assessment in property taxes and the residential garbage fee. We are doing negotiations also with BWS and we are talking about putting this fee onto person's water bill so that that will assist us in terms of the collections."
"My hope is that people will voluntarily pay for it. If you don't want to pay for it we can't get the city that you want. It's that simple. We cannot build the kinds of streets and the kind of drainage works unless we raise revenue. This is the only way that we can raise revenue. I will only add that every that every single municipality in Belize including Ladyville and Placencia has a residential garbage fee. Ladyville - the garbage fee is $15 per month. We are talking a fee of about $10 per month for 8 pick-ups. We cannot enter an agreement with BWS, it would be some other utility company or we have to put in place some other mechanism. But come September of this year that fee will be a reality and we are thinking about additional revenue streams for example residents may know that starting this morning we have begun to charge for parking at the NICH parking lot. Charging for parking will be a reality in our city in the near future. We are looking at pilot programs for parking meters and things like that and all of those things will allow us to be able to raise additional revenue to service this thing and to address the streets and works needs of Belize City."
Calculated at a 70% collection rate, it is projected that the garbage tax would raise at least 1.8 million dollars annually.
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