Cash-strapped City Hall hands over $18M bridge to Albouystown

Although it is faced with many challenges including a lack of finances, the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) today Wednesday April 5, 2017) handed over an $18M bridge to the community of Albouystown.

The bridge was handed over following a small ribbon-cutting ceremony.

The estimated cost of the bridge was $15M but it was later discovered that additional works would be needed that took the cost up. The construction of crossing located at Barr and Sussex Streets was done by Chung’s Global and is just one of many projects slated for this community.

According to Head of the City Engineer’s Department, Colvern Venture, “this bridge is just a stepping stone to of what is in store for the other communities.”

He noted at among the projects slated for Albouystown are much needed repairs to two more bridges but for these projects to be realised there has to be the necessary financing which is not readily available.

To this end, he has called on residents to pay their taxes since this is one of the main revenue streams for the M&CC.

A similar plea was made by Mayor, Patricia Chase-Green.

“In our commitment, you also have to be committed to us and in so doing you will have to help us, to ensure that your taxes are paid, every year” she said.

The Mayor also explained to the residents who had gathered for the ceremony that taxes can be paid quarterly, adding that there continues to be an uphill battle in securing new or additional revenue streams for the City.

“Our first meeting where we were trying to introduce a collection, a small fee for commercial garbage; people are objecting. Nobody is willing to pay the City Council other than the flat rates that they are paying for the services that we provide.” Mrs Chase-Green explained.

Recently, the M&CC announced that it would be engaging business owners with the view of introducing as commercial fee for garbage collection because it could no longer afford this expense.

According to City Hall about 67 percent of the refuse collected daily is generated by businesses which costs the city about $1.8M.