THE Kingston and St Andrew Corporation (KSAC) last Thursday revealed that it only managed to collect a mere three per cent of the projected $100 million in fees from the 30,000 businesses operating within the municipality last year.

At the same time, the corporation said revenue it expects to earn over the six-month period up to September 2007, from car parks, rental, billboards, barbers' and hairdressers' fees, is also below target, and has expressed concerns that its own source of revenue is down by $7.2 million from last year.

According to the Finance Committee chairman, Vernon McLeod, the council collected a total of $71.7 million for the six-month period to September in 2006 compared to the $64.5 million collected for the same period in 2007.

In respect of trade licences, McLeod said that the number of businesses in the Corporate Area were calculated from the General Consumption Tax roll.

Each business should pay $3,000 to $5,000 annually, but Inland Revenue collected only $3,000,000 for trade licences last year, McLeod said.

"Trade licence revenue is grossly underperforming but the collection is done at Inland Revenue. We don't have the authority. Compliance rests with the Inland Revenue but it has the potential to be a big revenue earner. Assuming there is full compliance we could earn up to $100 million annually from it," McLeod told the Observer last Thursday.

He said that when the Jamaica Labour Party plans for local government reform are implemented, the situation should change as the council would be given the authority to do the collections for trade licences as part of 'own source' revenue.
McLeod said that a sub-committee has been appointed to meet and discuss revenue enhancement with the revenue officer and decide on a strategy.

"Questions need to be asked and answered as to what caused the downturn and what should be done to address and improve it," he said.

Deputy mayor Lee Clarke said that a letter should be written to the minister of state for local government, Robert Montaque, to request that someone with expertise be appointed to review the situation and "put us on a path of enhancement".

Meanwhile, Paul Stewart, People's National Party councillor (Hagley Park Division) said that compliance was responsible for the downward trend in revenue.

"I believe it's a compliance issue," he said.
With regard to the downturn in revenue from billboards from a projected $15 million to an actual collection of $9.6 million for the six-month period to September, it was pointed out that the sole officer with responsibility for the collections has been ill for two months.

The committee was told that the officer was now better and that someone had been appointed to understudy him.

Revenues from car park fees for the six-month period is $6 million compared to collections of $7.6 million for the same period last year. In the case of the rental of KSAC properties, revenue collections for the 2007 totalled $2.3 million compared to $3.1 million collected over the comparable time frame last year.

Thursday, McLeod pointed out that although the fees for hairdressers' and barbers' licences have been increased in 2007, the council had seen only a marginal increase in revenue over the six-month period.

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