Council to debate
budget Tuesday
PHILIPSBURG--The draft 2008 budget for the Island Territory of St. Maarten shows a ballpark figure of NAf. 315 million, with general expenditures amounting to NAf. 290.5 million, general income calculated at NAf. 314 million, capital revenue of NAf. 1 million and capital investments of NAf. 24.5 million.
The Island Council is scheduled to start debating the budget on Tuesday. One member of the opposition, National Alliance Councilman Frans Richardson has already made it known publicly that he will not support the budget.
The draft 2008 budget is made up of 10 chapters, starting with zero:
General Administration (0): expenditures NAf. 65 million, income NAf. 4.2 million.
Public Order and Safety (1): expenditures NAf. 10.9 million, income NAf. 25,000.
Traffic and Transport (2): expenditures NAf. 18 million, income NAf. 638,000.
Economic Affairs and Tourism (3): expenditures NAf. 29.7 million, income NAf. 22.7 million.
Education (4): expenditures NAf. 88.86 million, income NAf. 1 million.
Culture (5): expenditures NAf. 8.8 million, income zero.
Social Affairs and Labour (6): expenditures NAf. 23.1 million, income NAf. 7.5 million.
Public Health (7): expenditures NAf. 47.8 million, income NAf. 961,500.
Public Works/ROB (8): expenditures NAf. 5.7 million, income NAf. 3, million.
Finance (9): expenditures NAf. 16.6 million, income 274.7 million.
The 2008 draft budget includes, for the first time, projections and means made available in light of the development cooperation programmes, projects and financing of the Social Economic Initiative (SEI), Quick Wins as agreed in the February 12 Transition Accord, ongoing projects from the Hurricane Lenny Fund and the harbour shares buy back agreement.
Approximately 22 per cent of government’s total expenditures will consist of direct personnel cost. The cost of hired personnel and technical assistants is not included.
The personnel cost increased to NAf. 66.9 million in 2007 and a three per cent increase is calculated for 2008, amounting to a total cost of NAf. 69.4 million
In addition to the personnel cost, NAf. 8 million has been budgeted for sickness insurance of the personnel, while another NAf. 3.3 million has been budgeted to pay for “hired personnel.”
The general expenditures of the General Administration budget increased by NAf. 21 million compared to 2007. A total of NAf. 5.7 million has been reserved for the new Government Administration Building and service fees. The building will be ready by February 1, 2008, it is hoped. After it has been handed over, the building will have to be furnished, and the staff members are expected to move to the new building by August 1, 2008.
The increase in the general expenditure of the Public Order and Safety budget by NAf. 4.9 million has to do with programmes financed by Dutch funding agency USONA for enhancing safety on the island.
The general expenditures on the Transport budget increased by NAf. 3.9 million mainly because of increased cost of maintenance. The revenues from road tax are hardly enough to maintain the roads and waterways and there is no extra room for extra investments, the budget states.
Capital investments are budgeted for NAf. 14 million and will go towards enhancing the infrastructure. Half of this money will come from the SEI fund made available by the Netherlands.
The general expenditures in the Economic and Tourism sector are budgeted for NAf. 12.2 million and will go to projects such as the beautification of Philipsburg (NAf. 4.3 million) and extra promotional expenses for tourism (NAf. 3 million).
The cost of health care will increase by NAf. 15.1 million in 2008. NAf. 0.7 million will be made available through the SEI for enhancing waste management, NAf. 4.9 million from USONA funding, NAf. 2 million for increased cost for garbage collection to be financed by the garbage collection fee, NAf. 4.5 million from the Hurricane Lenny Fund for waste disposal, and another NAf. 2.5 million for general cost increase.
The capital investments will be NAf. 4.5 million from the Hurricane Lenny Fund and will go towards improving the sewage system. The Public Works budget shows an increase of NAf. 2 million made available by the SEI and will go towards executing housing vision projects.
