PORT OF SPAIN Mayor Chinua Alleyne has doubled down on claims of a “fiscal crisis” affecting regional corporations, stating yesterday the Port of Spain City Corporation would be unable to pay salaries after May 2026.
Alleyne has called on the Government to urgently address the matter, warning of an impending disruption to the delivery of services if public servants attached to regional corporations are unable to work due to non-payment of salaries.
Speaking on TV6’s Morning Edition programme yesterday, Alleyne repeated concerns he raised at the weekend: that regional corporations around T&T have been unable to access funding to deliver services, including garbage collection and the maintenance of infrastructure, in their constituencies.
Noting that regional corporations also function as first responders in emergencies, Alleyne further criticised the Ministry of Rural Development and Local Government for pushing cultural events as a distraction from the financial crisis.
Alleyne has called for “good sense” and the “sensible allocation of resources”.
“All of local government is going to come to a screeching halt,” Alleyne stated.
He said the city corporation would not be able to pay for garbage delivery services after June 2026.
Asserting that local government was “most certainly facing a shutdown”, the mayor said most corporations were unable to pay workers’ NIS, allowances and salaries.
Alleyne said public servants—such as those in administrative roles in local government—kept the systems running. He said if public servants were not paid and did not turn up to work, this would also impact the ability of daily paid workers to deliver services.
He recalled last week’s meeting of regional corporations at the San Fernando City Hall, where he said it was clear that most corporations did not have enough money.
Alleyne said the various corporations were facing various challenges, and in some cases, allowances have not been paid in a year.
In a Facebook post last Saturday, Alleyne said all 14 corporations were being crippled by financial challenges.
Money was short for a range of recurrent expenses, including the maintenance of vehicles, and the purchase of material such as asphalt for roads and cement for the repair of pavements,he said,.
Alleyne said on the weekend that local government was “rolling from the ICU to the L’Hospice”.
The mayor claimed that funding allocated for the payment of salaries (and which could not be used for any other purpose) was used to pay the Government’s backpay advance for public servants.
Local Government Minister Khadijah Ameen has since denied Alleyne’s claims.
She stated yesterday that Alleyne’s claims are “rubbish”,
Ameen later told the media that the United National Congress (UNC) Government inherited millions in municipal debt and that the massive debt was caused by insufficient budgetary allocations.
She contended that in some corporations, allocations were suppressed and not released under the previous administration.
