MINISTER of Local Government Desmond McKenzie has rejected claims that his ministry is not providing adequate funds to cover salaries at the island’s municipal corporations.

Instead McKenzie has accused the municipal corporations of employing excess staff, and implored the leadership of these bodies to take responsibility for their effective management.

McKenzie made the denial and recommendation as he responded to comments from Opposition spokesperson on local government Natalie Neita Garvey during Friday’s meeting of the Standing Finance Committee that examined the 2026-27 Estimates of Expenditure ahead of the budget debate that gets under way today.

“It is not true…the municipal corporations, some of them, have gone outside of their approved budget and have employed persons,” McKenzie stated.

“Let me make it clear: The municipal corporations are self-sufficient. There are almost 21 streams of revenue that are available to the municipal corporations; the Ministry of Local Government has control over only three of those revenue streams –– the Parochial Revenue Fund, property taxes, and trade licences,” added McKenzie as he pointed out that the other sources of revenue are used at the discretion of the municipal corporations.

“I want to make it clear [that this is not true]. This argument has been going around for far too long and I want to dismiss it,” declared McKenzie.

Obviously not convinced by his argument, Neita Garvey responded, “Minister, I dare say that the problem is not just in municipal corporations headed by persons of the Opposition as mayors. Your own mayors, on your own team, are having the same difficulty. And that difficulty, I’m asking that if you are not aware of the full circumstances I’m suggesting that, coming out of this Standing Finance Committee, that you take a deeper look at what is happening with the shortfall.”

But McKenzie stood his ground as he pointed out that his ministry provided assistance to the municipal corporations in the aftermath of Hurricane Melissa last October, when property tax collections were low.

He pointed out that he understands the inner workings of the local government system, having served as mayor of Kingston for 12 years.

According to McKenzie, the municipal corporations need to get their houses in order.

“The municipalities, right across the country, must begin to show some level of personal responsibility in how they are administering their affairs, because if they are doing it the right and proper way they would be in a position — based on their revenue-earning potential — to at least help themselves,” argued McKenzie.

This view was not shared by Neita Garvey who told the committee that the municipal corporations are seriously short of resources.

“The truth is, I believe — based on my own experience as a councillor for 10 years — that the revenue which reaches the municipalities just simply isn’t enough to carry on the mandate of what is required at the local government level. And that’s a fact.

“And the many [revenue] streams you referred… are just not earning what you’re talking about, so when a councillor gets an allocation of an amount of $3 million or so, he’s hardly able to repair a road in any substantive way,” said Neita Garvey as she maintained that, “our municipal corporations are woefully underfunded, and you and I who have been councillors, we know that it is greatly underfunded”.

Neita Garvey told McKenzie she was not attributing this to his leadership or this particular ministry, “but we have to do better as to how we fund local government to be able to carry on the work of local government practitioners”.

In his response McKenzie admitted that the existing fee structure for the municipal corporations needs to be addressed.

McKenzie told the committee that a review of the fees started some time ago with the standardisation of building fees across the country.

“We are going to recommence looking at the existing fee structures of the municipalities in order to allow them to increase the revenues that they currently have at their disposal,” said McKenzie.