The Belize City Council has released its external audit for the financial year ending 2016. The audit, performed by Panell Kerr Foster lays bare all the city's financial affairs, from the salaries paid to the mayor and councilors, to the debts owing to the sanitation contractor. Now, there's no law requiring the council to release an audit, or even to perform one, but the mayor - who is never too shy to blow his own horn - said it is a key element of transparency:...
Darrell Bradley, Mayor - Belize City
"We want there to be no hiding of the fiscal challenges of the municipality and we want the accounting to be open, and to be subject to review."
"We want people in the public to be satisfied that when they procure municipal services, when they pay property taxes, trade license, they pay for their driver's license or other fees, that their money is being put to good use, and so we have this measure as a measure for transparency."
"And one of the things that i want to highlight is that our fiscal position over the four years, and as shown by last year's audit, and this year's audit, 'cause there's a comparison, has improved. So that we are improving collections at the municipality, we are taking down our liability."
"The audit report will show nicely I think to our prospective investors in the municipality, that we are able to pay off our debts, because we have been doing so, and that our financial position has increased."
"And what we're saying with the audit report is that if we are able to increase our revenues, we will assure you by mechanisms of good government and accountability including our audit that we're investing that money right back in streets, in parks, in signage, drainage, and it will bode well for the improvement of quality of life in Belize City."
Revenue from property taxes went up by $457,000 dollars, while revenue from Trade License Fees went up by $123,000 dollars. Overall, the council's expenditure went down by $940,000 dollars, while revenue went up by 386 thousand dollars, leaving an operating surplus of 1.3 million dollars.
But, the auditors did express reservations about the council's pension scheme:...
Darrell Bradley, Mayor - Belize City
"And this is something that we've highlighted it was something that I inherited, that the city council doesn't have a formal pension scheme, at city hall. So that what we do is that we keep our pension liabilities on our accounts on a cash basis. And when somebody retires, we just pay for that out of our operational expense. That is always something that they've highlighted as being a risk."
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