Port-of-Spain Mayor Chinua Alleyne says a fiscal crisis he warned about more than two months ago has now materialised, after the Port-of-Spain City Corporation was unable to meet its June payroll obligations.
“I warned the national community over two months ago that local government was heading for a fiscal fiasco. The fiscal fiasco is now here,” Alleyne said yesterday.
Guardian Media understands that the corporation was unable to make payroll for civil servants this month.
Alleyne argued that Government instructing corporations to pay civil servants’ backpay without providing the necessary budget allocations amounted to poor fiscal policy.
“As a result, the Port-of-Spain Corporation does not have enough allocation to pay civil servant salaries this month and we have no allocation to pay salaries for July, August and September,” he said.
He called on the Minister of Rural Development and Local Government and the Minister of Finance to intervene.
“I am calling on the Minister of Local Government and the Minister of Finance to take immediate action to provide salaries for our hardworking civil servants,” he said.
In a memorandum dated June 25, Chief Executive Officer Michael Johnson informed Public Services’ Association Port-of-Spain Corporation Staff Side chairman Revlon Cassie that civil servants at the corporation were expected to experience a delay in receiving their June salaries because of insufficient budgetary allocations.
Johnson said the corporation’s Salaries and Cost of Living Allowances line item had been significantly depleted.
“This situation arises as a result of the Corporation’s significantly depleted Salaries and Cost of Living Allowances line item. As a result, the Corporation finds itself in a position where it does not have sufficient budgetary allocation to meet its monthly salary payment commitment, for June 2026 through the rest of the financial year, until supplemental allocations are received,” Johnson wrote.
He said the corporation had already submitted requests for supplemental funding as part of the Mid-Year Budget Review and was awaiting the relevant documentation from the Ministry of Finance through the Ministry of Rural Development and Local Government.
Johnson added that he continued to liaise with the ministry’s Permanent Secretary to expedite the processing of funds and minimise inconvenience to staff.
Guardian Media reached out to Local Government Minister Khadijah Ameen and is awaiting a response.
