The parking lot at the Clem Labega Square.
PHILIPSBURG--Finance Minister Marinka Gumbs on Monday disclosed plans to fully automate the Clem Labega parking lot and said the site of the old Post Office could be used for future parking collection.
Gumbs said the lot at the Clem Labega square is now open and fees are being collected after a temporary free period. “For at least a week three weeks ago it was open free for all — everyone can go in, park up and not pay. Now it is open to the public where the public has to pay,” she explained.
The minister said the new system will be structured and automated to ensure smooth collection. “We are going to have it fully automated when that happens and I know that this also falls under AZ [the Ministry of General Affairs], but we are both kind of spearheading it because the collecting of the fees falls under me. So, I really want to see what the fees will be, how we will be organising it, if it’s going to be something like what the airport does, yes or no. But I really want to make sure that that gets structured because that too is revenue for the country, because people really need parking.”
Speaking about the site where Postal Service St. Maarten (PSS) was located on the Walter Nisbeth Road, she said: “Maybe [we can] even look at where the old Post Office was — that could be a possibility. The Chief of Staff of the Prime Minister mentioned that we can look at that area in collecting, but that is up for discussion and we will see how things go,” she said.
Gumbs stressed that new revenue initiatives must comply with legislation. “There are a lot of different areas that we can look into to generate funds, but in doing that we have to look and see if legislation is necessary. It’s very easy for people to say this is a new source of revenue generating, but is legislation in place in order to get that done?”
She cited the proposed “sin tax” as an example of legislation that requires careful coordination. “Some Members of Parliament (MPs) from the opposition would tell me things like a sin tax. Okay, I thought of it too — a sin tax is good legislation-wise. How are we with that? How will it affect us in terms of our uniqueness as a country? You would want to ensure that the two sides [of the island] are aligned, not just that we want to create this legislation, but sit with our counterparts on the French side and we speak with one voice,” Gumbs said.
