Local Gov’t reps deserve bigger budget share – Councillor Gordon

Councillor for the Maxfield Park Division in St Andrew, the People's National Party's (PNP) Dennis Gordon, is pushing for a significant increase in funding for Local Government representatives.

Gordon is proposing two per cent of Central Government's $1.3 trillion budget, which he said amounts to about $28 billion.

Gordon made the overall proposal at a town hall meeting which was hosted by the Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation (KSAMC) at Merl Grove High School in St Andrew on Thursday night.

Currently, the parochial politician who has been selected as the PNP’s caretaker to replace the outgoing Dr Peter Phillips in East Central St Andrew, said each councillor receives approximately $10 million in funding annually, which he called "a joke".

"I believe the time has come that we must sit with Central Government and demand a portion of Central Government's funding to deliver services at the Local Government level," Gordon stated, garnering applause from the audience.

Continuing, he said, "I'm going to be a little bolder.

"There's a budget of $1.3 trillion. I am demanding two per cent of that... It amounts to $28 billion..., (and it) will allow every municipal division to get $127 million to do more; that is what we talk about when we say leadership," Gordon suggested.

He claimed that the sums that are now given now to Local Government representatives cannot address the critical needs of the residents, including repairs to parochial roads.

"What we get now is a joke; a paltry amount of $10 million, and it takes $30 million to fix a kilometre of road," Gordon alleged.

"So if a councillor has a kilometre of road at $10 million, how many years it's going to take to fix that road? And our infrastructure has been deteriorating over time," he said.

Given those overwhelming issues facing parochial councillors, Gordon called for "innovative" ways to address such challenges.