-prepared to go all the way to CCJ
APNU is considering legal action over what it says is the government’s undermining of the financial autonomy of the Linden Mayor and Town Council, even as it called yesterday for the municipality to be compensated for revenue lost since tolls were removed from the Mackenzie-Wismar Bridge.
A statement outlining the party’s position was read by APNU Member of Parliament and former Linden mayor Sharma Solomon at a press conference yesterday.
During the ensuing questioning, APNU Leader Aubrey Norton said the party would engage its lawyers on the wider question of local government autonomy and was prepared to pursue the matter as far as the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ).
“My intention is to set up our lawyers. We need to deal with this matter at the legal level,” Norton said. “Even if we have to go way up to the CCJ … we will do that.”
APNU said it supported toll-free passage for commuters but argued that this should not come at the expense of the council’s ability to provide essential services.
The bridge became toll-free on August 1, 2025.
The party called for an emergency transfer to cover the revenue lost since then and a dedicated annual subvention based on the council’s verified pre-abolition earnings and adjusted for increased operating costs.
According to APNU, the bridge toll previously earned the municipality approximately $6 million per month, or more than $70 million annually. It said the council subsequently placed the annual loss at approximately $77 million.
The statement cited current Linden Mayor Dominique Blair as estimating that, when increased operating costs are taken into account, the council’s annual financing gap is now between $90 million and $100 million.
APNU said the loss had placed pressure on waste management, environmental services, enforcement, security and the council’s ability to deploy sanitation workers throughout the municipality.
“The people of Linden must not be forced to absorb the loss of revenue that financed essential local services,” the statement said.
In expanding on the party’s position, Solomon accused the government and Linden Town Clerk Lennox Gasper of obstructing the work of the council.
He said the municipality had sought to establish economic zones for vending and address waste-management problems but contended that some of these initiatives had been frustrated by the Town Clerk.
Engage
Solomon also said Minister of Local Government and Regional Development Priya Manickchand had committed, following complaints raised during the February budget debate, to engage the council and visit Linden, but had not yet done so.
“The council and the community are well aware, along with the government, of the obstruction of the clerk,” Solomon said.
He accused the PPP/C of seeking to undermine the elected council and directing available resources towards its political associates.
Norton said the dispute formed part of a wider failure to devolve power from central government to local democratic organs.
He cited Article 71 of the Constitution, which describes local government as a vital aspect of democracy, and Article 75, which provides for local democratic organs to be autonomous.
Norton also referred to the constitutional requirement for objective criteria to govern the allocation of resources to local authorities.
He argued that municipalities should know the resources to which they are entitled instead of being dependent on the discretion of central government ministers.
“The Constitution provides for local government to have economic and other activities to raise income, and the government continues to operate by stopping that,” Norton contended.
PNCR General Secretary Sherwin Benjamin told the press conference that the council had passed a no-confidence motion against Gasper and had sent the matter to the Local Government Commission (LGC), but no action had been taken.
Benjamin said the council had also conducted a disciplinary process and recommended the Town Clerk’s termination, but alleged that the LGC had again failed to act.
The appointment of Gasper has been contentious from its inception. In November 2023, Solomon, who was then mayor, objected to what he described as the LGC’s unilateral appointment of Gasper and accused the commission of undermining the council’s authority.
Stabroek News had reported at the time that the LGC subsequently advised that the position should be advertised.
Gasper had later told the newspaper that applications submitted by other persons for the post had not been sent to the LGC in keeping with the stipulated procedure. He maintained that the council had itself failed to follow the correct process.
On the bridge toll issue, the Linden Mayor and Town Council had warned in March 2025 that its removal would present an immediate and significant financial challenge.
At that time, the council said it had not been consulted or provided with an alternative source of funding.
At the time the council had said the anticipated loss could affect approved salary increases for municipal employees and its ability to maintain essential services.
The council had also sought clarity on its future role in the management and maintenance of the new Mackenzie-Wismar Bridge, which is under construction.
Concerns over the revenue loss were raised again in September 2025 after a section of the existing bridge collapsed. Solomon said then that the toll revenue had previously been remitted to the municipality but that the arrangement had been changed without proper engagement. He placed the loss to the council at $77 million.
APNU yesterday said the government had still not established an equivalent and dedicated mechanism to replace the revenue.
It said the $50 million allocation announced for each municipality could not properly be treated as compensation since it applies to every municipality and is below even the lowest estimate of Linden’s annual loss.
Manickchand announced during the 2026 budget debate that each of the country’s ten municipalities would receive $50 million, while the 70 neighbourhood democratic councils would each receive $30 million.
APNU argued that the bridge revenue was not a political favour, citing Section 6 of the Demerara River (Mackenzie) Bridge Act, Chapter 51:04.
The party said the legislation provided for toll proceeds to be paid to local government authorities within five miles of the bridge for their use and benefit.
It questioned why the toll was abolished before a replacement financing agreement was reached and which municipal services the government expected the council to reduce.
In addition to an emergency payment and annual replacement subvention, APNU called for an urgent meeting between central government and the council, with a timetable for reaching a settlement made public.
It also called for updated property valuations, the transfer of eligible housing areas to the municipal rating system and the development of lawful sources of revenue that would not impose additional hardship on Linden residents.
“Relief for commuters and financial viability for the council are not opposing goals,” APNU said. “The government has both the resources and the duty to achieve both.”
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