Under the new local government reform proposals, regional corporations will be in charge of collecting property taxes.
So said Rural and Local Government Minister Franklin Khan during a local government reform consultation at the Princes Town West Secondary School on Wednesday afternoon.
He said political affiliation has affected rural development so it was imperative under the new system that politics be set aside.
“Unless there is direct policy intervention, rural development will not occur in T&T,” Khan added.
He said chairmen and mayors would be elected and not selected by political parties under the new system.
Salaries of councillors would increase and additional people would be employed where needed, Khan added. However, he warned against corruption.
“You are spending public money so you have to be held accountable. You will be accountable to the Ministry of Finance and the Auditor General.
“You will be authorised to decide how to spend it and the Auditor General will be looking at you with a hawk’s eye,” Khan said.
Saying people will be encouraged to pay taxes if they see the monies being spent in their own communities, Khan unveiled a modern management system, styled after the one being used by the Tobago House of Assembly (THA).
He admitted the PNM had been accused of being an urban-centric party and that was why Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley set up a ministry solely towards the development of rural areas.
Lamenting the unproductiveness of local government, Khan said there was no agency in T&T that was as inefficient and unproductive as local government.
“Go to regional corporation and at 10 am, you can’t find anybody. The gangs disappear by 10 am. They are not working for their money.
“You cannot say you go to a government agency and find nobody at 10 am,” Khan said.
He added that was why regional corporations needed to be remodelled to govern their own affairs, regardless of political affiliation.
“If we give you the authority and the skills, you will have productivity,” Khan said. He added that regional corporations would get additional staffing if they needed to manage their own affairs.
“The regional corporations are understaffed and under-resourced and they don’t have the right skill set to undertake responsibility.
“There are no engineers, no auditors or supply chain managers, no quality surveyors, no project managers. All these are skills needed to execute work,” Khan said.
He added that once the transformation process was complete, the Local Government ministry would be shelved.