Increased stipends for local gov’t representatives 

Minister of Local Government and Regional Development, Priya Manickchand announced increased stipends for various elected local government representatives.

During the Consideration of the Estimates for funds allocated to Region Four (Demerara- Mahaica), Manickchand announced that stipends for

The stipends for Regional Councillors on the Regional Democratic Councils (RDCs) will increase from $30,000 to $50,000. Councillors on Neighbourhood Democratic Councils (NDCs) are now expected to get a $30,000 stipend, an increase from the $3,000 stipend they received before.

The NDC Chairperson’s stipend will increase from $10,000 to $50,000, while the Vice Chair’s stipend will increase from $5,000 to $40,000.

“That’s something worth clapping for… I’m very pleased about these increases,” Manickchand told the Parliamentary Committee of Supply.

The move to increase these stipends follows earlier increases in subventions for the NDCs and RDCs. Municipalities now receive $50 million as their new annual subvention, while Neighbourhood Democratic Councils (NDCs) get $30 million each. Previously, NDCs got subventions totalling about $5 million, while municipalities got about $18 million.