break in their double tax burden, a Corporation member said yesterday.

Common councillor Mr. E. Michael Jones said residents were tired of paying two tax bills for one level of service.

"St. George's residents are fed up with paying two taxes and getting no benefits,'' he said.

"People outside St. George's get their garbage collected and their streets lit, but the people of St. George's pay additional taxes and still have difficulty getting those amenities delivered.'' Mr. Jones also called on Government to provide an immediate $500,000 cash injection that would help it with tourism earnings, either for town promotions or for "fixing up'' its tourist attractions.

Mr. Jones' comments touch on a growing irritant among residents who object to paying taxes to both the Corporation and the Bermuda government.

"The time has come for the Corporation to cease to exist in its current form,'' said Mr. Jones, who lost his bid to be a St. George's North UBP MP in the October 5 election.

He suggested the mayor and deputy mayor be elected "as a team and that aldermen and common councillors be done away with''.

Mr. Jones said the recent hiring of a town manager should be complemented by the hiring of two full-time professionals. One would have expertise to handle St. George's marketing and promotions and the other responsibility for the town's physical plant.

He would have all services and manpower provided directly by the Government of Bermuda.

"This would provide a full-time complement of professionals manning the town's day-to-day affairs with manpower and financial support from Government.

"My belief is that the people of St. George's are part of this Island and that it's high time they be treated as such.'' Mr. Jones said the Corporation was in a Catch-22 wherein it was charged with responsibilities for maintaining and improving the town without the tax revenues to pay for it.

"Government is aware the Corporation is responsible for things in the town,'' he said. "But the Corporation doesn't have the money to pay for them. There have been attempts to get the Government to help, but the Government says it's the Corporation's responsibility.'' The Corporation is currently $400,000 in debt. Government has pledged to help pay the burden at a rate of $100,000 a year.

The cash crunch has also caused the town to cut back its staff. Works staff have been halved to about seven or eight men.

"We're just not doing the things we used to do,'' Mr. Jones said, adding that odd jobs such as tree trimmings and pot hole filling were being done less frequently each year.

"We're not short, it's just a question of less money than we had.'' Mr. Jones charged that taxes the town will earn from cruise ships are a "drop in the bucket. Under the current system, we'll never be able to upgrade the town.'' St. George's mayor the Wor. Henry Hayward said he didn't agree with Mr. Jones' position.

"I think it's a step in the wrong direction,'' he said. "My feeling is that there is no way the Government can run the town more efficiently than the Corporation.'' He acknowledged the Corporation needed a larger tax base and that he'd been negotiating with Government for a new arrangement for the past six months.

Mr. Hayward said the Corporation's revenue base had diminished over the years as Government took over its revenues from ships berthed at the Ferry Reach oil docks and ships at anchor in St. George's harbour.

In addition, the town is occupied by many church, National Trust and government properties that don't pay taxes.

One reason underlying Mr. Jones' call for the dismantling of the Corporation is the sense that its deliberations were increasingly political and affecting the life of the town.

"We've got to find some way of pulling St. George's together,'' he said.

"It's becoming divided. It's not the way it used to be.''