Belmopan Residents Owe Nearly $7.5 Million in Unpaid Fees

At Thursday’s Belmopan City Council’s public meeting, the audit was one of several matters on the agenda.  The arrears for property tax, garbage and other services were also discussed.  According to the Belmopan City Council, it is facing a growing challenge in collecting revenues with millions of dollars remain outstanding in unpaid property taxes and garbage collection fees, depriving the municipality of resources needed to fund infrastructure projects and daily operations.  Love News understands that the council should be collecting approximately two-point-seven million dollars annually in property taxes. However, widespread noncompliance has significantly reduced those collections. Officials disclosed that some property owners have not paid property taxes in more than twenty years, resulting in accumulated arrears estimated at seven-point-five million dollars.  Valuation Officer Derron Russell says the council is encouraging residents to regularize their accounts and contribute to the development of the city.

Derron Russel, Valuation Officer, BMP CITCO: “The property tax roll for Belmopan consists of the revenue stream should be around $2.7 million of the current year, 2026/ 2027. The total tax collected thus far is $1.3 million. The outstanding taxes is at $1.3 million as well. Now the most important thing to note from this slide is the arrears. Arrears under five years is $2.5 million. The total arrears for five years and above is $4.9, which brings your total arrears to $7.5. This is important to note because we need to tackle these arrears accounts because some parcels in Belmopan have not paid their taxes for over 20 years. And so we’re faced with a problem in receiving those funds that are desperately needed in order to grow Belmopan. And so the compliance unit is actively working on getting these accounts updated with personal information like phone numbers, email address, so that we could tackle and reduce this arrears in the near future. West Belmopan the total collected thus far from West Belmopan is just under $90,000. The outstanding is just above $96,000. North Ring Road those areas would include Caracol Street, Cayman Street, and so on. Total collected $113,000. Outstanding $91,000. Total parcels 254. Streets like NEMO Drive which has recently been paved, and Sir Colville Young Boulevard are streets in that area. Total collected is $41,000. Outstanding is $35,000. Moving on to Mountain View. A total of 1,388 parcels. The amount collected 102, outstanding $136,000. Total parcels in that era is 1,142. We have collected $281,000 and we have yet $144,000 yet to collect. As we go through these images, it’s clear to note that Belmopan is growing. And so with the rapid growth of Belmopan we need to ensure that we receive the funds so that we can tackle the maintenance and all the upgrades that Belmopan would need in the near future.”

Property taxes are not the only area where the council is struggling to collect revenues. Officials also disclosed that residents owe nearly one-point-eight million dollars in outstanding garbage collection fees.  Compliance Supervisor Danielle Morrera says the level of nonpayment has become a serious concern for the municipality.  She notes that as part of compliance efforts, the council is preparing to publicly post parcel numbers associated with outstanding accounts in an effort to encourage payment and improve collections.

Danielle Morrera, Compliance Supervisor, BMP CITCO: “As of this reporting period, the council has a total of 5,010 active household garbage accounts, annual fees for garbage total to $300,600 and we have an outstanding amount of $1,865,523. When it comes to commercial garbage, we have a total of 1,175 active accounts. Commercial garbage annual fees total to $274,832 and while outstanding is $77,668. These figures are an accumulation of past years and despite our efforts in trying to collect through customer outreach, bill deliveries, payment plan reminders, we still have a substantial amount of non-compliant customers. So in an effort to support compliance, the council is intending to publicize a listing of parcel numbers mainly for customers who we’re not able to reach out to. One of our biggest challenges includes those with outdated contact information as well as ownership records. Majority of the landowners within Belmopan sell their lots and they do not come into the council to do the transfer so majority of our accounts are filled without dated information. So I do encourage landowners within Belmopan and those that own accounts come in and try to regularize their accounts. We do offer payment plans.”

We will have more from the Belmopan City Council’s public meeting including its position on the famous Rude Bwai billboard and trade licenses.