MINISTER of Rural Development and Local Government Khadijah Ameen has accused the Port of Spain City Corporation of playing “petty politics” after the mayor raised concerns over delayed June salaries for monthly paid employees, insisting an investigation found the corporation failed to submit the required documents on time.Last week, Port of Spain Mayor Chinua Alleyne expressed concern that the Local Government Ministry had only recently approved funding for June’s payroll, resulting in delays to June salaries, and that no provision had been made for salaries beyond June. He said City Hall had repeatedly warned the Government that it would run out of funds to meet payroll, but those warnings went unanswered. A day later, however, Alleyne stated on his Facebook page that the corporation had received a cheque, while noting that the payment did not cover salaries beyond June.Responding to questions from reporters yesterday at a Venezuela earthquake relief collection point in Woodbrook, Ameen disputed the mayor’s account.“Well, unfortunately, when we investigated the situation, it was because the Port of Spain Corporation did not submit documents,” she said.She added, “We met with them in March. We had a follow-up meeting with them in April to indicate that they are required to provide certain information. As you know, public servants have gotten an increase, therefore, we needed to have those properly calculated and audited, and they needed to submit those documents. They did not.”Ameen said ministry officials worked with the corporation to resolve the issue.“They submitted the documents on Friday. We worked over the weekend. Our PS (permanent secretary) was there. They submitted some on Sunday, but there were errors. So, they did the corrections on Monday, and thankfully, that has been sorted out,” she said.The minister confirmed that the issue had been resolved and that the corporation had received its full allocation for the affected workers.Asked what period the allocation covered, Ameen said, “What they got is a cheque that represents the amount from the Mid-Year Review, from the time of the Mid-Year Review to the end of the financial year.”She said this meant the allocation covered the period from the Mid-Year Review through to the end of the current financial year.Seeking ‘political mileage’Ameen also accused the mayor of seeking political attention.“Unfortunately, though, I think, in his haste for political mileage, the mayor, by publicising this issue, there was some negative impact on the workers,” she said.According to Ameen, publicity surrounding the matter caused concern among financial institutions.“In fact, I had one employee call me in tears because the credit union was withholding approval on a loan she was waiting for because they got the impression there was some issue with her job security or something, and I want to give the assurance to the public and to all regional corporation workers — There is no issue with workers and their pay,” she said.She added that while there had been administrative issues at some corporations, they had been resolved.“Sometimes PNM corporations, because of petty politics, they don’t reach out and say, ‘Hey, I haven’t seen my notice, I haven’t seen my release,’ for us to intervene and make sure everything is in order. But I have been working with the union as well,” she said.Ameen said the representative unions had expressed concern for their members but maintained that politics would not interfere with workers’ interests.“I will not let politics interfere in the workers and their job security, and I want to give workers that assurance,” she said.The minister also said daily paid and contract workers were not affected.“It was only the monthly paid public servants who fall under the PSA (Public Services Association), and they, as I told you, got an increase in their salary. So, I don’t know if, for whatever reason, they felt it was necessary to go this public when the truth is that they were the ones who were at fault,” she said.She maintained that “all the money has been disbursed to them, and the workers have been paid.”