Choiseul Co-Operative Silent on Delcer Lands?

As at December 31^st 2017 the financial statements  presented by The Tri-Trinity Associates,(Certified General Accountants and Management Consultants of Rodney Bay, Gros Islet ) to the Board of Directors of The Choiseul Co-operative Credit Union  Limited revealed:

Total Assets:               $90,734,346.00

Total Liabilities:          $76,020,136.00

Net Assets (deficiency)/Members’ equity:          $14,714,210.00.

It is worth mentioning here that this members’ equity comprises:

Share capital of $4,692,795.00'
Reserves funds of $6,783,721 and Retained earnings  of 3,237,694.00.

The statement shows an increase The Board of Directors approved this statement on Thursday March 1, 2018.

Total Assets and total liabilities increased by $11,093,172 or 12.2% and $6,851,327 or 9.9% respectively from the previous year’s audit report. Hmmm! Going places it appears?

After that infamous decision at the last meeting to seize 75% of interests on quarterly dividends the institution seems to be finding its feet. Bravo!

However members should be aware that on August 1, 2017 the credit union leased an office space in Choiseul at a monthly payment of $2,200.00 per month for a  2-year duration.  Plus the Soufriere problem remains a burden on the back of the membership.

We are all aware of the fiasco regarding the purchase of land and a dilapidated building in Soufriere. In spite of this purchase which was ill advised the Union continues on its leasing spree.

After five years since the purchase of a dilapidated building in Soufriere the Choiseul Co-operative Credit Union  have started renting a new building at a cost of $3000.00 monthly - so one wonders why the building was purchased.

The Union was warned against the purchase for two reasons. One is that the Soufriere operation was being subsidized until 2019 and we did not need to increase our expenses in this branch and secondly the building could not be repaired without major expenditure since it was 60 years old.

 At that time it would have to practically be rebuilt at a cost of more than 1.5 million. Now it is alleged that it will cost over $2M. I also noticed a building fund which from 2016 has stuck at $135,484.00.

It also apparently clear that the “Delcer Lands” issue which has plagued this administration and those previously was not mentioned in the Board of Directors’ Report.

In the case of Delcer - a bad decision was made by two individuals and the then board to buy land which has no road access electricity or water - As such all these have to be done to subdivide the property.

Government had contributed the funds to help so the actual cost to the CU was not much,  but subdivision would be costly going forward because the amenities would have to be put in.

The worst problem though is that the property was bought with a number of tenants who could not even pay rent to Cecil Frank and are in no position to purchase but their houses are erected on the property all of which are in concrete and as a result they cannot be evicted. This is the CU's dilemma which I see no way of getting out of. Fix it!!!!!!

The financial statement is comprehensively detailed and would take some time on my part to really delve into it. However one statement by the auditors that stands out in my mind is, “The Co-operative is exposed to daily calls on its available cash resources from maturing members’ deposits and loan draw downs. The Credit Union does not maintain cash resources to meet all of those needs as experience shows that a minimum level of investment of funds can be predicted with a high level of certainty….”

Therefore it would be wise for the Board of Directors to adhere to this year's  theme by Malcolm X which they portrayed in their report - "THE FUTURE BELONGS TO THOSE WHO PREPARE TODAY."