And, as you can probably tell from his impatience with budget over-runs and fiscal indiscipline, the current mayor is a banker - and they do love that bottom line. And that's why the mayor frowns on the long-established practice of giving discounts on prepaid property tax:
Bernard Wagner - Mayor, Belize City
"We also found that there is an inefficient and ineffective method of tax assessment delivery and we also noted that the discount program is one of the chief drivers in eroding our capital base for the council, so we need to certainly look at that going forward. There is no need to give discounts; the council lose on an annual basis over 800,000 in discounts. The best incentive for paying taxes in my view is to give the tax payer value for money. We also need to look at revisiting the situation with the collection agents. We are currently 13 agents collecting taxes and it cost the council over 269,000 annually."
Jules Vasquez
"Will there be a discontinuation of the discount program?"
Bernard Wagner
"Certainly we'll need to look at that program because clearly it's eroding the council ability to meet its commitment. The council loses by discounts over 800,000 dollars per year and clearly that can't be left to continue. We'll look at how we could better police how we go about giving discounts but certainly it's a program that we want to discontinue. It does not bode well for the council long term."
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