LMTC to clamp down on stall owners

The Linden Mayor and Town Council will begin to clamp down on market stall owners, who have breached their contracts, by renting stalls allocated to them for vending purposes. According to Deputy Mayor Wainewright Bethune, many of the stall owners pay a fixed rate of $500.00 in accordance with their contract, then they rent out those same stalls for $20,000 monthly, which is a breach of their contract.

Mr. Bethune further stated that drastic measures need to be implemented, in order to prevent these stall owners from conducting this illegal operation. “The council is already cash-strapped and this puts more pressure on the council to deal with these stall owners who continue to get involved in this sort of business,” Bethune said during a recent interview. “How can you pay $500.00 on your contract for the stall and then rent it to a third party for $20,000 dollars? This matter needs to be addressed urgently since this is not in the agreement with stall owners and the council.” he stated.

The Deputy Mayor further revealed that the council is currently revisiting the archaic rates, that have not been reformed to suit the rising cost of living.

Vendors to be affected by this are located in the Mackenzie and Wismar Municipal Markets.

  The Deputy Mayor also called out stall owners operating on the Georgetown bus park, who have been neglecting their payments. Recently, the council published a notice, with the names of these stall owners, who have not been honouring their payments. “I am quite aware of what is going on and these persons need to pay the council the monies that are owed.”

He also called out the market clerks who have the responsibility to collect these revenues, but are not doing so aggressively. These are monies used to pay the clerks, many of whom are paid below the minimum wage. The elected officials are therefore calling on the clerks to be more aggressive in collecting these revenues, since their very livelihood depends on it.   “These staff knows that for every monies you collect, that is what pays them. If you know, if you collect $20.00 you are only paid from it, you will work harder to collect more because that is where your salary comes from; why is it you are not working harder to collect the monies that is paying them, if they increase collection, their salaries will go up. They are being made below minimum wage and there is a way to get it,” the Mayor said.