Manning: UNC put local government in dark ages

MINISTER in the Ministry of Finance Brian Manning said local government was placed in the dark ages for five years under the People's Partnership (PP) coalition government.

Manning, the San Fernando East MP, also accused the UNC of continuing to mislead the population about the benefits of local government reform.

He made these statements during the debate on a motion to approve a joint select committee report on the Miscellaneous Provisions (Local Government Reform) Bill 2020, in the House of Representatives on Friday.

Planning Minister Pennelope Beckles and Communications Minister Symon de Nobriga supported Manning in their respective contributions later in the sitting.

Manning praised a local government policy document developed by his mother Hazel Manning, a former local government minister, before 2010,

But he lamented, "Sadly. This document was allowed to lapse by those on the other side when they came into office during 2010." Manning said the PP's tenure from May 24, 2010, to September 7, 2015 "is regarded by many as the dark ages because no kind of development took place.

That included local government reform. Manning argued, "What we got was a deliberate campaign of misinformation." He rejected UNC claims that Finance Minister Colm Imbert was starving UNC-led local government corporations of funding.

"Why would we starve local government bodies, including our own local government bodies? It makes no sense" The UNC, Manning claimed, is trying to "gaslight the national community into believing that we did not just come through, safely, one of the sharpest economic downturns in the history of the world."

He said the UNC is aware that "local government has to be funded by property taxes." Despite this, Manning claimed the UNC is doing its utmost to prevent local government reform and property tax implementation.

He reminded MPs that the Board of Inland Revenue (BIR) will determine the annual taxable value (ATV) of a property by using its annual rental value (ARV). Manning reiterated that the ATVs for agricultural and residential properties would be one and three per cent respectively.

"There is nothing dreaded about the proposed property tax," he said.

But Manning said through the collection of property taxes, local government corporations can be properly funded to provide the services needed by their burgesses.

"Property owners are the greatest beneficiaries of local government services." Those services include the provision of roads, sewerage systems and the municipal police.

Without the provision of those services, Manning said people could not enjoy the use of their property and "the value of their property would also sink to zero."