by Eldonté Samuel

Some vendors are once again at loggerheads with the management of the Kingstown Town Board following their receipt of a letter mandating them to pay outstanding fees by this week or be removed.

Various Produce on the counters of the several vendors stalls inside the Downtown Vegetable Market in Kingstown.

A letter from the Town Board dated January 16, 2024 states in part: “It has been brought to my knowledge that you have refused to pay your vending fees based on ‘them say’. Let me remind you that as long as you are in occupation of a space in the Town you are required to pay fees,” states the letter signed by Warden, Clayton Burgin.

Vendors are charged $5.00 per day to use the facility, the fee is paid weekly to the Town Board- a total of $120 per month.
Down Town vendor Indera Aribine expressed her concerns to SEARCHLIGHT on Wednesday, January 18.

“We got the letter today saying that we have to pay tomorrow.” According to the letter, Aribine has arrears amounting to EC$480.00 over which she expressed, ”nobody does come in here to buy anything, only those at the entrance get sales, so how we who at the back of the market supposed to make money?”

She added that management of the Down Town Market had negotiated with the vendors to pay half the outstanding amount.

On Thursday 18, Aribine and the other persons who vend in that building were still occupying their stalls. She told SEARCHLIGHT that neither she nor anyone else had been removed, but an additional number of vendors had been issued with letters requiring them to pay their arrears.

She figured thAat by today, January 19, the Town Board may begin to remove persons from the market and on the streets.

SEARCHLIGHT understands that some of the vendors may have been under the impression that when Prime Minister, Ralph Gonsalves said in his 2023 Independence message that he will have the situation reviewed, it meant they should cease payments.
Burgin told SEARCHLIGHT that most of the people with arrears are the shop operators, “but you have a few vendors who had some arrears, but not as much as the shops”.

He said the shop owners have racked up as much as three-quarters of a million dollars in debt and there are some vendors who have amounts in the hundreds and thousands of dollars. He explained that some people owe amounts dating back to 2014. Burgin acknowledged that in some instances their collectors have not been as assertive in collecting the money when it becomes due, but “some of them started to pay up because I wrote them”.

The Warden added that the fees charged the vendors in the vegetable markets are not onerous amounting to $87, and $120, and just over $200 per month in some cases. He said the ones with the lesser fees are most delinquent in payments owing up to $5,000, $6,000 and $10,000. He also noted that vendors had not been told they should cease payment. “The Prime Minister made a statement saying we will see how we could deal with this the situation,” but this does not translate into vendors not meeting their obligations to the Town Board. Burgin added that while vendors are required to make their payments every Monday, consideration was given to those who said they couldn’t meet the Monday deadline, that would enable payment later in the week, but they are all required to pay their fees.

The review of the situation which Prime Minister Gonsalves spoke about in his Independence Anniversary address is being carried out by the Ministry of Finance for examination by the Cabinet.

The Kingstown Town Board has jurisdiction for shops at Little Tokyo, China Town, the Vegetable Markets, and areas on the Foreshore.

SEARCHLIGHT understands that a decision regarding all outstanding fees will be made by March 1, 2024.