It’s good news for Doctor Sutherland, as criminal charges against him were officially dropped in the Magistrates Court today. Last week, a police officer charged the Good Samaritan, formally known as Harrison Sutherland, for carrying a five-gallon bottle of water on his bicycle in a way that supposedly didn’t give him full control. He was detained for several hours and then brought before a magistrate. Sutherland pleaded not guilty, explaining that he was carrying the water to help an elderly person. After the story aired, Commissioner of Police Chester Williams stepped in, calling the charge unusual and unreasonable, and requested it be withdrawn. On Monday, Sutherland expressed his gratitude to the commissioner, but it wasn’t until today that the charge was officially dropped. In court, Sutherland was told that the prosecution wasn’t offering any evidence against him, so the case was dismissed. He was informed that he didn’t need to return to court. Outside the courtroom, Sutherland shared his relief and gratitude after the charge was officially withdrawn.
Harrison Sutherland, Belize City Resident
“It is an offence. But for a plastic bottle that have no offense to the public. So you the try explain that the gas tank weh unu the ride with, the zinc deh, the pint bottle and those, so dende dah nuh danger, but the plastic bottle dah danger.”
Reporter
“Now that you understand the law and if you had another opportunity to assist somebody how would you go about doing that knowing that the law exists?”
Harrison Sutherland
“I would think twice now because I was just helping an old lady and I get crucified for that. Cho, me nuh into help nobody no more. Like weh unu seh, the good suffer for the bad.”
If you’re looking to invest your money in Belize City and support its infrastructural development while earning lucrative returns, municipal securities might be your best bet. Today, the Belize City Council hosted a public investment forum to pitch these securities to potential investors. While tax revenues mainly cover operational costs, funds for capital projects need to come from other sources. Sure, the council could go to the bank, but that’s too costly. Instead, it turns to public investors to sell papers, notes, and bonds. News Five’s Paul Lopez was at the event and filed this report.
Paul Lopez, Reporting
Municipal governing bodies like the Belize City Council need funds to carry out infrastructural projects that enhance the quality of life for residents. Unfortunately, the money collected from taxes just isn’t enough to cover these big projects.
Bernard Wagner
Bernard Wagner, Mayor, Belize City
“The taxes is used for your day to day operation, but if you are engaging in capital projects, huge projects, street infrastructure, parks and playgrounds, expansion of your e-mobility project, you need significant capital and you will never be able to get those capital on a day to day basis from property taxes, trade license, liquor license or traffic fees.”
Enter municipal securities. Simply put, investors can lend money to the municipality and, in return, receive interest payments along with the principal amount at a specified time.
Bernard Wagner
“These investments will allow us to pave more streets. I was being to the CEO of Chamber and she was telling me that Coney Drive need fix. Steve mih the tell me that Mercy Lane need fix. That is why we need your support. These investments will allow us to pave improve drainage and create spaces that foster community development and growth. We can build upon the one hundred and fifty streets rehabilitated in 2023 and 2024 by prioritizing the use of concrete ensuring greater durability and enhanced climate resilience. These investments will shape the Belize City of tomorrow.”
Today, the Belize City Council hosted a public investment forum to secure buy-in from investors for future securities. So, why not just borrow the money from the bank to complete these projects? According to Abigail Castellanos, a financial analyst at Legacy Fund Limited, it’s cheaper for the council to raise funds through securities. Plus, it offers attractive interest rates to lenders.
Abigail Castellanos
Abigail Castellanos, Financial Analyst 2, Legacy Fund Limited
“The interest rate for these municipal securities will typically range from four-point five percent and as high as seven percent, with an equal weighted average of five-point seventy-five percent. Now, compared to the bank loans which are at eight-point forty-five percent plus a premium of one percent that the banks might set on that loan, the council saves between two-point forty-five percent and four-point ninety-five percent in their borrowing cost. And it is not only the issuer that benefits from the lowering borrowing cost. Investors get to benefit by earning higher interest compared to the traditional saving accounts. Municipal securities offer interest rates between four-point five percent and seven percent, which is far higher than the zero point ninety-three percent that is offered by a standard saving account.”
The Belize City Council is gearing up to issue a new series of municipal bonds soon. These bonds will have maturities ranging from five to twenty years, with interest rates between 5.75% and 6.5%.
Abigail Castellanos
“Investors don’t only benefit from the high returns. They also benefit from the tax-free feature of the municipal securities. So, the interest you earn on your municipal securities are exempt from income tax, business tax and stamp duty. Municipal securities are also considered a low-risk investment.”
Bernard Wagner
“In the Belize market, the last time we check their was close to seven hundred million sitting in the banking sector and those funds can be utilized to drive development within a city, especially like Belize City which is a growing city.”
The Belize City Council has wrapped up its audits for 2022 and 2023. Mayor Wagner announced that the council’s website will soon be updated with the audited financials. He also shared some insights into what the audits revealed.
Bernard Wagner
Bernard Wagner, Mayor, Belize City
“Very soon. We had that audit completed a week ago. So we have the 2022 and 2023 on that website. I just have to get the caucus to approve it and PR team will do the rest. I just looked at it last night. Clearly it shows you had your struggles in 2021, coming out of COVID and Lisa, but it showed pretty quickly by 2022 you had a net loss of five hundred sixty-five thousand. But in 2023 you had an operating surplus of one point six million. So clearly, we have turned that curve and I am anticipating that the 2024 figures will be even better. I see where our property taxes, trade license, liquor license and traffic fees all increased from 2022 to 2023. I am very hopeful that the trend continues.”
Back in November, the Belize City Council wrapped up a study on damaged streets across the country, estimating that repairs would cost approximately one point six million dollars. Now, more than two months later, most of those streets are still in disrepair. So, what’s the holdup? Is the council waiting for central government to step in? With general elections around the corner, voters will surely be demanding these upgrades. Today, we asked Mayor Bernard Wagner when those repairs will finally begin.
Bernard Wagner
Bernard Wagner, Mayor, Belize City Council
“Bail out no, we are not seeking bailout. We are waiting for the rains to subside. I am glad that finally we are seeing some letting up in the rain. We do not shy away from the fact that climate change is here. But we as a progressive entity have to find the capital to do the retrofitting and rehabilitation of those streets. Flooding again requires, I always insist that flooding requires participation from residents. We will do our part. We have cleaned those drains on an annual basis. When you see flooding in the city, the water does not stay there long. It goes very quickly. I agree with you, we still need to fine tune the drainage system in the city. That is part of our agenda for this year, to focus on drainage, ensure that there are maintained, that they are connecting. You cannot just have a drain and it connects to nowhere. It must connect to the canals and it feeds into the river and the river into the sea. We have a pumping station that helps us to alleviate flooding in that downtown Belize City area.”
The Belize City Council is finally paying off the eight hundred-thousand-dollar debt owed to the Belize Waste Control, which caused a garbage crisis in the Old Capital late last year. Thankfully, garbage collection resumed before the end of 2024. Mayor Bernard Wagner credited Prime Minister John Briceno for bringing both parties to the table to reach an agreement. When asked if the central government bailed out the council, Mayor Wagner clarified that the council is handling the debt repayment. He also continues to advocate for a garbage collection tax for Belize City residents.
Bernard Wagner
Bernard Wagner, Mayor, Belize City
“I have not shied away from that. I have been saying for years that the residents must. It is your garbage and the city has the responsibility to ensure that we are not utilizing funds that would be normally used for street rehabilitation and other operational purposes on your garbage. That has to be at some point addressed. Why is Belize City different from other municipalities? All the other municipalities has legislation to collect a garbage fee. I have not shied away from that. I do believe we have residents who want to pay. I have had residents who say mayor we want to pay a fee because we are a responsible contributor to our city.”
Paul Lopez
“Did the central government bail out the council where that outstanding balance was concerned?”
Bernard Wagner
“We are paying those outstanding balance. It is always a cashflow problem. Cash flow is how you manage it. During the slow season there will be a slow down of revenues coming into the council’s coffers. So it is about managing it, but we are, as we speak keeping up to our obligations to the Waste Control Board, as a city.”
Paul Lopez
“So there was not a bail out?”
Bernard Wagner
“We had very good discussions with the prime minister and he helped us with getting the parties to the table and formulating a plan and that plan is being adhered to as we speak.”
On Monday, we shared how the recent downpours have thrown a wrench in the works for delivering quality sugarcane to the Tower Hill Factory. The fields are waterlogged, and the roads are a muddy mess, making them nearly impossible to navigate. The relentless rain has also stalled road repairs, leaving cane farmers no choice but to harvest immature cane, which unfortunately yields very little. However, Alfredo Ortega, Chairman of the Committee of Management for the Belize Sugar Cane Farmers Association, believes that with the right support, diversifying and planting different types of cane could help tackle the issues of flooding and disease.
Alfredo Ortega
Alfredo Ortega, Chairman, Committee of Management, B.S.C.F.A.
“Looking into variety, and that is something that we feel that SIRDI being the arm, needs to look upon varieties. I think that this is something that they really need to take into account on which we know that they have been working on it, but it needs much more to be done in regard to getting new varieties, but varieties that will really give us that return and yield that we need. The B79 is a predominant variety because that is a variety that shows that it can give good yields in both low and highlands. If we get a pest infestation on that variety, then we are really going to lose because as you hear right now, the Fusarium problem that we are facing, we are experiencing it now, that the farmers are delivering, we see the quality of cane, we are seeing the TCTS that is coming out is very low, compared to other years. This year is really challenging for us as farmers because the Fusarium not only attack one variety, but it’s attacking all canes on a whole. And we are seeing the problem that we are facing so farmers themselves have been trying to plant other varieties that are to harvest on the very early part of the season.”
Cane farmers are facing significant financial losses. When the mill must shut down due to a lack of cane to process, it hits the factory hard too. Mac McLachlan, the General Manager of the A.S.R/B.S.I. sugar mill, agrees that diversifying with different types of sugarcane could help solve some of the issues farmers are currently grappling with, like low yields and diseases. He points out that in other countries, cane farmers are already investing in various replanting strategies to tackle these challenges.
Mac McLachlan
Mac McLachlan, General Manager, A.S.R/B.S.I.
“Normally, a sugar industry would have a whole range of different varieties. Some of them would mature earlier, some of them would mature later, so that you end up having a higher amount of sugar across the whole range of the crop, but here it’s been because of the lack of serious replanting in cane fields. We’re predominantly one variety, and so that won’t actually reach full maturity for some time now. But you see if we all wait until the time is optimal to begin the crop, then as we’ve learned in recent years, later on in June, July, then we get into real problems and then that farmers are left without being able to deliver cane, which is even the worst situation.”
In 2024, Belize’s tourism industry hit a major milestone, welcoming an impressive five hundred, sixty-two thousand, four hundred and five overnight visitors. This not only matches the pre-pandemic record set in 2019 but surpasses it by a remarkable eleven point eight percent. After the severe impact of COVID-19 in 2020, the industry has been steadily recovering, thanks to the strategic planning and dedication of its stakeholders. Here’s Tourism Minister Anthony Mahler with more.
Anthony Mahler
Anthony Mahler, Minister of Tourism
“We created this, I think, fantastic campaign, Grab Life, at that time and that’s changing and evolving as we go along. I think with focus from both public and private sectors, strategic marketing efforts and creative in terms of using, like you said, innovations. We are here now, where we’re about sixty thousand over 2019, which is almost about twelve percent over 2019 and about twenty-three percent over 2023 and that’s a huge accomplishment.”
The race to build the first cruise terminal in Belize City harbor has hit a major roadblock. The Stake Bank tourism development project is tangled in legal issues, the Port of Belize Limited has been taken over by the government, and the Port of Magical Belize seems to have vanished into thin air. So, what’s the Minister of Tourism’s take on building a cruise terminal in Belize City harbor, and which of these three projects is closest to becoming a reality?
Anthony Mahler
Anthony Mahler, Minister of Tourism
“Well that would be Stake Bank, if I were to look at it honestly, because that’s the closest to being completed. We’re working on a master plan for Port of Belize which should be completed in March. But that has two components to it, cargo and cruise. And they can work together, it’s done all over the world.”
Belizeans across the country will be celebrating the birthday of George Price this Wednesday. Known as the Father of the Nation, Price led Belize to independence in September 1981 and became the country’s first prime minister. He would have turned 105 tomorrow. However, celebrating his birthday midweek brings its own set of challenges for businesses and employees, who often struggle to plan around a midweek holiday. It can complicate scheduling meetings, deadlines, and other work-related activities, disrupting the flow of the workweek and making it harder for employees to maintain momentum and productivity. We asked Home Affairs Minister Kareem Musa about the decision to honor Price’s birthday on the actual day.
Kareem Musa
Kareem Musa, Minister of Home Affairs
“There’s two sides to that argument. Some people advocate for having the actual holiday on the day itself, which was Mr. Price’s birthday. Usually when it falls on a Tuesday or Thursday, it would be moved to a Monday or Friday. This one happens to fall smack dab in the middle of the week and so we decided to leave it there. But certainly, if it were like a Tuesday or a Thursday, maybe moving it closer to the weekend to avoid the disruption is a good idea.”
