Saint Lucia: The Local Government System in Saint Lucia Country Profile 2017-18
Saint Lucia: The Local Government System in Saint Lucia Country Profile 2017-18
Saint Lucia: The Local Government System in Saint Lucia Country Profile 2017-18
SAINT LUCIA
SUMMARY
Saint Lucia is a constitutional monarchy with two levels of government: national and
local. The constitution makes reference to local government but contains no specific
provisions. The main legislative text governing local government is the Constituency
Councils Act 2012. Local elections were suspended in 1979, and since then the Minister
of Local Government is responsible for the appointment of all councillors. There
are ten administrative quarters within Saint Lucia, which contain 15 constituency
councils. In 2016/17, 45.3% of appointed councillors were women and in 2015/16 local
government expenditure was 2.0% of total government expenditure. The functions
and responsibilities of local government have been discharged by centralised
authorities since 1980, and many of the services provided are carried out in tandem
with other governmental agencies.
186 www.clgf.org.uk/saint_lucia
COUNTRY PROFILE 2017–18 THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT SYSTEM IN saint lucia
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THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT SYSTEM IN saint lucia COUNTRY PROFILE 2017–18
Table 35.2a. Income and expenditure for local government 2015/16 (in XC$m)) 10.3 Local government’s role in
2015/16 2015/16 achieving the UN Sustainable
Income XC$(m) Expenditure XC$(m) Development Goals (SDGs)
Local government provides a forum
Centre–local transfers 17 Administration na
to lobby for changes in policy and to
Castries Constituency Council 4 Staff na request supportive actions to promote
development. Local councils also work
Other constituency councils 13 Other administrative costs na with non-governmental bodies to
enhance economic and social wellbeing
Locally raised revenue .3 Services na in their communities through inclusion
and access to opportunity. Through
Property taxes na Operations and maintenance na
the CARILED project local government
Licences and fees na Other na authorities have been empowered to
exercise their powers and functions fully in
Other income na order to maximise economic growth and
social development of their communities.
TOTAL income 17.600 TOTAL Expenditure 17.133
Source: Department for Local Government correspondence with CLGF REFERENCES AND USEFUL WEBSITES
35.1a National government
9.3 Transfers 10. DISTRIBUTION OF SERVICE
www.stlucia.gov.lc
In 2015/16 the national government DELIVERY RESPONSIBILITY
35.1b Women in national parliaments.
allocated XCD$13,600,351 for the 10.1 Overview of local government
Inter-Parliamentary Union http://
operations and management of the service delivery responsibility
archive.ipu.org/wmn-e/classif.htm
other 14 constituency councils. The The functions and responsibilities of
35.2a Constitution of Saint Lucia
Finance Administration Act 2005 local government have been transferred
www.govt.lc/constitution
governs the transfer payments made to centralised authorities. Many of
from national government to local 35.2b Constituency Councils Act
the services provided are carried out
councils. Local government authorities 2012 http://slugovprintery.com/
in tandem with other government
receive an allocation from national template/files/document_for_
agencies. To some extent services include:
government based on multiple sale/laws/3245/Act%201%20
maintenance of roads, pavements,
considerations, including the projected of%202012.pdf
footpaths and streets; cleaning and
revenue flows and budgetary priorities de-silting of drains, streets, pavements 35.2c National Housing and
of national government. Castries and rivers; maintenance of squares, Resettlement policy
Constituency Council receives an annual parks and open spaces; landscaping and http://archive.stlucia.gov.lc/docs/
subvention of XCD$4m in addition to its beautification programmes; maintenance NHRPolicy.pdf
own locally raised revenue. Local councils of daycare services; maintenance 35.3a 2010 population census
also collect revenue on behalf of the of public buildings; environmental http://unstats.un.org/unsd/
government. The total revenue collected monitoring and development control; demographic/sources/
for 2015/2016 was XC$256,296. Local supervision of solid waste collection; census/2010_PHC/Saint_Lucia/
governments are not permitted to set assistance with planning and organising SL_Pre2010census_report.pdf
deficit budgets. national activities; management of 35.3b Ministry of Social Transformation,
cemeteries, playing fields and public Local Government and
9.4 Loans facilities; disaster preparedness; and Community Empowerment
No information avaliable. revenue collection. http://socialtransformation.govt.lc
35.4 Elections Commission
9.5 Local authority staff 10.2 ICT use in service delivery 35.5 No reference for this section
Local authority staff are recruited both National government has provided a 35.6 No reference for this section
centrally (higher grades) and locally. There framework to improve service delivery – 35.7 No reference for this section
are administrative clerks assigned to all such as intranets – but local governments 35.8 No reference for this section
councils except Castries Constituency have yet to develop their own individual 35.9 Based on the total budget
Council, which has a chief executive strategies within that framework to figure XCD$-1,050,069,200 and
officer (CEO) and a financial controller. improve local service delivery. the total expenditure of XCD$
The power to discipline remains with the 17,133,410 in the -2015/16 national
body responsible for recruitment. budget www.govt.lc/www/text/-
2015/16-BUDGET-STATEMENT.pdf
Table 35.2b Local government expenditure 35.10 No reference for this section
as a percentage of total government expenditure 2015–2016 35.11a UN statistics surface area
http://unstats.un.org/unsd/
2015-16 demographic/products/dyb/
Total government expenditure 1,050,069.2 dyb2006/Table03.pdf
35.11b Commonwealth Local
Total local government expenditure 17,133.0 Government knowledge hub
www.clgf.org.uk/resource-centre/
Local govt expenditure as a % of total govt expenditure 1.6
knowledge-hub
Source: Figure 35.2a and the national budget statment 2015-1635.9 35.11c UNDP HDR Saint Lucia country
profile http://hdr.undp.org/en/
countries/profiles/LCA
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COUNTRY PROFILE 2017–18 THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT SYSTEM IN saint lucia
Annex 35.a Summary of service provision in different spheres of government in Saint Lucia
Delivering authority
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