JPS in arrears on payments to Petrojam

The Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) has declined to divulge details on its arrears to the oil refinery Petrojam.    
She said JPS has been paying Petrojam, in accordance with the payments it receives from the Government of Jamaica.

The company remains at a disadvantage, however, she asserted, because while it is required to pay Petrojam in US dollars, it is paid by the Government in the local currency (which has been significantly de-valued in recent months).

An additional problem cited by Tomblin is the fact that, whereas Petrojam charges JPS interest on outstanding sums owed to the refinery, the government does not pay interest on the money it owes to the JPS.

She stressed however that “when we get paid by the Government, we pay Petrojam the next day.”

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JPS in arrears on payments to Petrojam

Caribbean Airlines clears its arrears

Caribbean Airlines has paid over millions of dollars in outstanding fees which were owed to several local agencies.

This was disclosed last night by Transport Minister Dr. Omar Davies.

“They have cleared their arrears. In terms of service level, there have been other airlines which have come in those instances where they have cut back. So, there’s no shortage of airlift to Jamaica. But although there has been a change in Caribbean Airlines stroke Air Jamaica’s share of that airlift Dr Davies told RJR News.

Reports surfaced two years ago that Caribbean Airlines had racked up US$1.5m in debt to the Jamaica Civil Aviation Authority and the Norman Manley International Airport.

The money was for unpaid airport fees and outstanding taxes.

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Caribbean Airlines clears its arrears

Now you can check your property tax arrears online

JAMAICA’S tax authorities have installed a new online feature designed to offer further convenience to persons paying property taxes.

According to Meris Haughton, director of communications at Tax Administration Jamaica (TAJ), the new feature should have been up and running Monday.“We have just put in place what we call a property tax online query which now allows persons to actually look up their obligation,” Haughton told reporters and editors at this week’s Jamaica Observer Monday Exchange.Property owners, Haughton explained, can go online and check the status of their property, once they have the valuation number, “and that goes back seven years, so you can see what payments were made, whatever is outstanding”.Haughton and her colleague, Sharon White, property tax co-ordinator at TAJ, as well as Calvert Thomas, senior director of the Revenue Enhancement and Resource Mobilisation Division in the Ministry of Local Government, were guests at the Exchange where they discussed property tax collection and compliance.Haughton explained that the property tax online query service was introduced in an effort to assist persons who, during the peak property tax period between April and June, had complained that after going to the tax office they had to first check their status then go to a cashier to pay.“With this facility you can check your status before going to the tax office, print it, then go straight to a cashier at the tax office. Or you can just check your status, ensure that you have enough funds and then go straight to the cashier.” Haughton said.The new service adds to a number of other mechanisms already introduced by TAJ to make it easier for persons to pay property taxes.Haughton explained that property owners can now pay taxes at any of 29 tax offices TAJ operates across the island, regardless of where their property is located.“It wasn’t like that a few years ago,” she said, adding that the TAJ also offers what it calls an ‘out of office service’ which involves staff going into communities that are far from tax offices, and setting up an office in those areas to accommodate individuals.That service, White explained, started in August.“Since last month we have been going into communities where we realise that taxpayers have been having difficulty coming to us because of the cost of transportation,” White said.“We actually do it on a Saturday because sometimes, because of work, taxpayers can’t come to the tax office [during the week]. Last month we went to St Elizabeth. This month we will be going to Clarendon, St Ann, and Kingston — out at Harbour View,” White added.“That is what we are doing now; we’re not sitting in our office waiting on the taxpayers, we’re actually going to them,” she said.Tax Administration Jamaica’s director of communications Meris Haughton talks about the agency’s new online service at the Monday Exchange. (PHOTO: NAPHTALI JUNIOR)

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Now you can check your property tax arrears online

Customers owe NWC J$15b in arrears

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Customers owe NWC J$15b in arrears

Customers owe NWC J$15b in arrears

News

Sunday, August 25, 2013 | 1:13 PM

ST JAMES, Jamaica — State Minister for Water, Land, Environment and Climate Change, Ian Hayles, is urging National Water Commission (NWC) customers, currently in arrears amounting to over $15 billion, to settle their accounts. Speaking during a recent tour of water systems in sections of St James, Hayles said that given the government’s current fiscal constraints, accumulation of outstanding payments to the NWC will pose a challenge for the entity to implement projects designed to provide consistent reliable services islandwide.“The planned extension and improvements to the water system in western Jamaica (for example), does not only stop in St James; it will continue into Lucea, in Hanover to the tune of US$1.7 billion. If consumers do not pay their water bills now then there is no way that we can extend these pipe lines,” said Hayles.The State Minister also noted challenges related to construction activities that he contended occur too close to NWC systems. These, he pointed out, “often create health problems and, sometimes, disruptions in the supply programmes.”“We will, therefore have to talk more to our people in an effort to educate them on these infringements,” Hayles said.

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Customers owe NWC J$15b in arrears