And while the Mayor says his proposed garbage fee has nothing to do with the reshuffling of council members' portfolio's, he made it clear today that he stands by his proposal as both long overdue and of vital importance for the sustainability of the City's sanitation and sustainability.
Cherisse Halsall:
"I heard that you said on Love FM this morning that citizens are in fact calling the council to express their desire to pay this fee, now last year in an interview with you and I when I asked can the councils revenue problems be solved by getting people to pay their bills you said, you kind of laughed a bit and you said but Cherisse people can't pay their bills at all and so I have to ask with the proposal of putting forward new bills, do you feel that that situation will change at all?"
Bernard Wagner, Mayor, Belize City
"Your first question is that during that ordeal late last year we did have residents calling saying they want to pay, how do I pay mayor, where do I go about to pay, they just wanted their garbage to be picked up 44cents a day for your garbage Cherisse, 44 cents a day I still stand by that but I do believe that we do have to have a social component of it as well. There are those who are living at the margins, there are the elderly there are the disabled that we need to consult and we need to quantify those who fall under that umbrella. You see the garbage fee situation Cherisse is essentially an offsetting cost, we would never be able to offset 3.8 million. So, any kind of contribution toward that cost is a help to the city council."
"It's unfair in my view as well that a resident who lives in the rural area of Lord's Bank or the Rural area of Crooked tree has to pay a Garbage fee to pick up their garbage. Why is that not so in the City and Mayors before I have complained about it? Zenaida Moya, Darrel Bradley have complained that the garbage fee that the council has to pay out every year 3.8 million dollars is unsustainable and that is the reality, that is the crux of the matter."
