The long-anticipated proposed legislation to reform local government will be up for debate when Parliament resumes next week on Wednesday.
The announcement came from the leader of Government business, Camille Robinson-Regis as she moved to adjourn yesterday's sitting.
According to the explanatory notes on Parliament's website, the Miscellaneous Provisions (Local Government Reform) bill, 2019 seeks to amend nine pieces of legislation and will contain eleven clauses.
Clause 3 of the Bill would amend the Municipal Corporations Act Chap 25:04.
Some of the amendments include:
- Allow local government bodies to collect and retain certain taxes from within their boundary such as land-property tax.
- Include the Borough of Chaguanas in the list of areas to which the Act applies.
-Greater power for Municipal Police such as the issuance of traffic tickets
- Amend subsection (3) to vary the term of office of councillors from three years to four years requiring that all councillors would retire on the last day of the period.
- Remove the requirement for a councillor to have their qualifying property situated in the electoral area but in an electoral district other than the electoral district for which he seeks to be a candidate.
- Disqualify a person from being a councillor where he has been convicted of an offence which carries a penalty of five years or more.”
- Repeal section 17 of the Municipal Corporations Act and substitute a new section 17 which would empower the Minister to determine the remuneration and allowances for the mayor, aldermen and councillors.
- The clause at paragraph (q) would amend section 35 to recognise the employment of persons by the corporation.
Before Parliament was adjourned yesterday, a bill entitled “An act to validate the constitution of licensing committees under section 5 of the Liquor Licenses Act, Chapter 84:10”, more commonly known as the Licensing Committee (validation) Bill, 2018 was passed unanimously with 32 votes. The bill was introduced because of what the government claims was the previous administration's failure to constitute the committee when it was proclaimed in 2014. However, then Minister of Legal Affairs Prakash Ramadhar disputed this.