7 News Belize

Bernard Bashes Darrell
posted (March 11, 2020)

You’ll have noticed how the Belize City Mayor threw a jab at the former Mayor, Darrell Bradley, and his municipal bond project, which the Council is still paying for. Well, as his 40-minute presentation went along, those jabs turned into piles of scorn which he heaped on his predecessor. Here’s what the Mayor had to say about what the audit findings are about the past administration’s spending in the months leading up to the municipal elections:

Bernard Wagner - Mayor, Belize City Council
"Nevertheless, the tourism industry continued to grow. We know that. We grew in the neighbourhood of 33%. So, we forecast that based on a 6-year trend of average growth being 19% in cruise ship tourist arrivals, we are expecting a 5% annual growth, which will bring in like about 2.5 million dollars in tourism-related fees. Bear in mind though - and we’ll touch this a little later - that all that from tourism go to the Darrell Bradley Bond. That goes to his bond, which he strapped us, took all of our money, and he set it aside to pay for the bond for the cement streets that are breaking up."

"We were able to decrease expenditure in finance and administration by 13%. Those guys spent 9.2 million dollars in 2018, you know. We spent 8 million in 2019, and how did we do that? With board meetings, we reduced that from 16,000 in 2018, to 6,000 in 2019. We cut down on those cocktails that were served at those board meetings. We cut it down. Donations, we had to pull back a little bit off the donations. Those guys were giving 161,000 in donations. I don’t know what that’s for. That’s probably the concert in 2018. We pulled it back to $6,000. Fuel consumption, from 128,000 in 2018, to 95,000 in 2019. Social assistance, 368,000 they spent in social assistance in 2018, to 26,000 in 2019. We had to manage the Council’s business because we don’t have a big government behind us."

"Transport and travel, this is travel that we do - from $64,000 in 2018 to $3,000 in 2019. Are you not hearing me? In terms of finance and administration, 13% decrease from 9.2 million in 2018, to just 8 million, and this same 1 million that we saved is how we survived. Human resource management, the expenditure there again, fell by 17% going from 1.5 million to 1.3. How did we save that? By reducing fuel expense. $22,000 in 2018 they spent on fuel in human resources. We took it down to $9,500, councillor, and we got new vehicles, right? 12 new vehicles, and look at this one, national celebration activities. They spent $206,000 in 2018. We spent $154,000 in 2019, and we didn’t lose anything. Miscellaneous expenses, from $27,000 - I don’t know what is that miscellaneous expense, we cut that from 27,000 to $112. Are you getting the picture that I am painting? Repairs and maintenance in PR, $412,000. Who’s vehicle was getting service that way in PR, Rose? $412,000 to $150?"

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