A scene during the debate on the draft 2019 budget on Tuesday.
PHILIPSBURG--The 2019 budget was approved by a majority of Members of Parliament (MPs) late Tuesday night, ending more than a week of deliberations in parliament about the content of the budget and other issues.
Five other motions were also voted on last night, one of which – to send Finance Minister Perry Geerlings home – was rejected and four passed, including a motion of no confidence against Minister Emil Lee. Two of the five motions were passed unanimously.
All eight MPs of the governing coalition voted in favour of the budget and six of the seven members of the opposition voted against. The seventh member of the opposition, National Alliance (NA) MP William Marlin, voted during the other five motions, but missed the voting on the budget and an amendment to the budget when he stepped out for what was believed to have been a bathroom break.
The passing of the budget means that St. Maarten can now obtain critical loans such as the loan for the recovery of Princess Juliana International Airport (PJIA) and can start with projects to structurally increase government income, such as the reform of the tax administration and the improvement of financial management.
In motivating his vote against the budget, NA MP Christophe Emmanuel reiterated his position that it was a “devil’s budget” that is not good for St. Maarten.
“This is an anti-St. Maarten government and it is an anti-St. Maarten budget and because of this I can never support this budget,” Emmanuel said.
United St. Maarten Party (US Party) MP Rolando Brison said the budget has serious deficiencies. He expressed hope that the public realises that the budget is not in their best interest. “It needs a lot of work,” Brison said, adding that he had hoped the budget amendment would address serious issues, but this did not happen.
He accused government of prioritising “external forces” and their own individual pet projects and said “whatever scraps” remained went to the people of St. Maarten, whose interests, he said, were left for last.
Just before voting on the budget MPs also passed an amendment submitted by United Democrats (UD) MP Tamara Leonard. The amendment called for funds to be reserved to provide public schools with a pilot breakfast programme for the first half of the 2019-2020 school year. Leonard says public schools have an average of 50 children who go to school every day, without food or without having breakfast.
The amendment was passed by eight votes in favour and six against, which reflected party lines.
