<div id="attachment_117163" class="wp-caption alignleft" style="width:310px;"><a rel="nofollow" class="highslide" target="_blank" href="http://edition.channel5belize.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Darrell-on-Taxes.jpg"><imgclass="size-medium wp-image-117163" title="Darrell Bradley" src="http://edition.channel5belize.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Darrell-on-Taxes-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225"/></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Darrell Bradley</p></div>
<p><strong>Also participating were the local staff of the CARILED project which has been assisting various municipalities. Even with the largest revenue base of all the municipalities, Belize City still has its revenue stream problems. But according to Mayor Darrell Bradley, the coffers are healthy, if not swimming, and they are teaching their expertise to their fellows, countrywide.</strong></p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Darrell Bradley, Belize City Mayor</strong></p>
<p><em>“The idea is that we are discussing all the revenue enhancement, budget and planning; that is something that is very critical to all municipalities. We are working very closely to increase the revenue enhancement capacity at the various municipalities. We are looking at things like collection rates; we are looking at things like how we budget and plan how you prioritize our goals; what are the important features of residents within our community. We want to incorporate a feature where when we put together a budget—it has to be done before the end of the year—they can have a public consultation component of that so that it is not just that the council is putting together a budget and then presenting it to the Ministry of Local Government, but there is a lot of buy-in. One of the things that we are very pleased with is that Belize City increased its collection rate for profit in taxes over the last two years so that we’ve been doing better. And we want to ensure that that translates into increased goods and services, more roads, better infrastructure, better parks, better security; a cleaner city for residents of Belize.” </em></p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>The workshops are expected to be held every two months. City Council staff is also training its town counterparts.</strong></p>
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<p><strong>Also participating were the local staff of the CARILED project which has been assisting various municipalities. Even with the largest revenue base of all the municipalities, Belize City still has its revenue stream problems. But according to Mayor Darrell Bradley, the coffers are healthy, if not swimming, and they are teaching their expertise to their fellows, countrywide.</strong></p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Darrell Bradley, Belize City Mayor</strong></p>
<p><em>“The idea is that we are discussing all the revenue enhancement, budget and planning; that is something that is very critical to all municipalities. We are working very closely to increase the revenue enhancement capacity at the various municipalities. We are looking at things like collection rates; we are looking at things like how we budget and plan how you prioritize our goals; what are the important features of residents within our community. We want to incorporate a feature where when we put together a budget—it has to be done before the end of the year—they can have a public consultation component of that so that it is not just that the council is putting together a budget and then presenting it to the Ministry of Local Government, but there is a lot of buy-in. One of the things that we are very pleased with is that Belize City increased its collection rate for profit in taxes over the last two years so that we’ve been doing better. And we want to ensure that that translates into increased goods and services, more roads, better infrastructure, better parks, better security; a cleaner city for residents of Belize.” </em></p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>The workshops are expected to be held every two months. City Council staff is also training its town counterparts.</strong></p>
View the full article