Earlier in the news, we told you about the plan for the parking meters, which is supposed to be another revenue generator for the City Council. But their main revenue source comes from property tax. However, they've had issues with people not paying.
That also includes Belizeans living abroad. The mayor has made an appeal to those in the diaspora to pay their dues, and now he says there will be an app for that.
Bernard Wagner, Mayor of Belize City
"We have substantial residents who live abroad who own properties or who may have become, through estate, become the owners of properties and what we see is a lot of them being abandoned and so we are trying to put in place the, like I discussed earlier, put together a Belize City Council app which will connect those living abroad directly into the system and be able to really interact and see their statements, if you are a customer who engages in trade, in property, in liquor, your driver's license, you'll be able to have a dashboard which clearly shows you all of your relationships with the city and be able to track and I always believe if you are seeing what you owe in front of you everyday, you are more compelled to pay and so if you are able to access that app and you see the interest bill going up on your property tax, you are more compelled to say, I need to pay this through this app, of course through merchant accounts and get it into the city."
