Payday for employees of the Belize City Council was to have been on Friday, October 11 but up to late Wednesday evening, October 16 all employees had not been paid. Our information is that the council has been paying the upper management strata at the council first, that means councilors and managers have gotten their pay. The disparity between the treatment of employees is so polarized that over long holidays Wagner has been seen living it up at various states in the U.S. while the rest of the staff are being paid in a staggered manner.
We have been called by numerous employees who are furious that they have not been paid. They say that the late payment of workers has become the norm at the council and they do not know who to turn to for help.
It is no secret that the council is in dire financial straits most recently having to resort to the sale of heavy duty equipment to meet expenses. More than that, most recently the Central Government approved that the council could float a six-million-dollar bond for it to be able to meet recurrent expenditures; however, there is no word on that. It seems that it has fallen since there is little confidence in the council’s ability to repay anyone who holds these bonds.
