00:00Our corporation is the same as all others.
00:03That's a response from Point 14 Mayor Clyde James,
00:06who tells us they are going to have a serious shortfall financially.
00:10We were one of 14 corporations that were present in that meeting,
00:14and all were asked to do the same.
00:17Did all of the corporations complain about the same issue of having that shortfall?
00:22It is, yes. Yes, they are.
00:24Remember, when the budget was read,
00:30the negotiation wasn't completed, right?
00:35That was completed in December,
00:38and then they made a one-off payment of $20,000 to each employee.
00:42James says the increase in national insurance took effect in January,
00:46compounding the situation.
00:48He indicates that the Point 14 Borough Corporation
00:50will run out of money to pay salaries by June to July of this year.
00:54The mayor is seeing only one possible solution in resolving that issue.
01:00We made a request, as the minister asked us when we met last week,
01:07for that to be addressed in the media review.
01:10And we're hoping that when the media review comes along,
01:14that that aspect of it will be addressed.
01:16Rural Development and Local Government Minister Khadija Amin
01:20on the heels of the meeting said
01:21cooperation should settle their debts before hosting events.
01:25In terms of the response from the minister,
01:28that's about what you are hearing in the public domain.
01:31How, you know, what is your response to that?
01:36Well, she has to do what she has to do, right?
01:39But we know where we are,
01:41and we know what we have to do.
01:44Some of our attorneys, I don't think they are the best,
01:46but nevertheless, she knows what she has to say.
01:50Mayor James doesn't believe Amin's comments
01:52are in relation to the salary shortfall,
01:54given the circumstances which resulted in the problem.
01:57Because our situation, we could only manage what we have, right?
02:03And a case like Abia statutory payments, I mean, must make.
02:08He says permanent employees must be paid.
02:10In case of the short-term employment,
02:13in some cases, we have to send home people,
02:16or in some cases, we are working people three days a week
02:18in order to manage.
02:20But like the Port of Spain City Corporation,
02:23Point 14 has also seen a large reduction in funding
02:26for the public sector investment program.
02:28According to James, it is down to $5.5 million this year,
02:32from $17.1 million in 2025.
02:36We had a commitment to the tune of $4.9 million from last year.
02:43Which we had to, that has to come up from this year's allocation, right?
02:47Because of, there was not, the money was not released in time.
02:52So therefore, even though we were allocated $5.5 million,
02:57we only had $600,000 to do work this year.
03:00Travelling allowances have also not been paid since August of 2025,
03:04meaning employees who are using personal vehicles
03:07to do corporation work are not being compensated.
03:11It's another scenario he says cannot continue.
03:15Alicia Boucher, TV6 News.
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