Businesses Protest Sudden Fee Calculation Changes

Belmopan’s City Council is defending its recent wave of trade license reassessments, saying a year‑long audit uncovered missing files and outdated calculations that forced the board to recalculate fees across the capital. But even as Mayor Pablo Cawich insists the review aimed to correct long‑standing inconsistencies, not implement any new regime, the United Democratic Party’s caretaker for Belmopan, Khalid Belisle, argues the council jumped the gun. He says the government deferred the amended trade license act in December, and yet businesses were still being issued updated assessments, some even facing steep increases in garbage collection fees over recent years.

 

Khalid Belisle, UDP Caretaker, Belmopan

“I am very reliably informed that the council, at least in Belmopan, and I am certain that they would have disseminated the same information to other municipalities around the country, has been advised that legislation have not come into effect and therefore the status you remains in effect. And, that is why I can tell you that I know for a fact that they have been reaching out to business houses that have already paid the newly assessed fee and advising them for this year of 2026 reverting to what they have been paying previously. Again another complaint as it relates to hikes, a couple weeks back I had the opportunity to speak to a small businessman who explained to me that maybe three years ago his garbage bill doubled from one fifty to three hundred and now in this most recent assessment it is once again doubled from three hundred to six hundred. So, he has seen a four hundred percent increase over the past four or five years at the most. What the justification for that is, I know Belmopan is actually unique is that we have legislation that provides for charging residential and commercial garbage collection. What prompted the change, whatever assessment might have caused consecutive councils to seek to raise their rates is something we have to look at more closely.”

 

So tonight, Belmopan’s trade license shake‑up remains far from settled, as the council defends its audit while critics say businesses are still feeling the pinch from unexpected assessments and years of rising garbage fees.