Dear Editor,
Our budget will be debated in Parliament on the 29th of February and I want to be amongst those to congratulate the Minister of Finance for having prepared the budget in such a short period of time. Also, the fact that Mr. Gibson choose to send the draft budget to CFT for its recommendations prior to handling it in the plenary session shows wisdom and maturity. For this, I praise Mr. Gibson. However, I have my reservations with regard to the finance minister’s decision on selection of budget cuts. In particular with the budget cut of more than five million guilders from the budget of the ministry of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transport and Telecommunication.
I am the first to acknowledge that the most important task of a minister of TEATT is to research the possibility and exhaust all avenues for creating economic development. However, as it stands now, our single economic pillar is the tourism industry. Cutting the budget of this ministry will seriously hamper our opportunity for economic growth. I can understand that the minister does not agree with certain spending within the TEATT ministry, but with all due respect, the minister of TEATT must be given the tools to work with.
Although I recognize the importance of traveling in order to capitalize on expanding the tourism industry, I agree to limit the amount of traveling for now and invest in building and strengthening our product. The Inspection department for example, requires urgently needed funds in order to function properly. By investing in this department, additional funds will be generated for government. Whatever measures need to be taken in order to have a balanced budget must, as little as possible include the TEATT ministry.
Cutting the budget of TEATT ministry will prove detrimental. This is our lifeline. This is how we make money to cover government expenses. To quote the finance minister’s words, “the TEATT ministry brings in the bulk of income for government”. Don’t kill the goose that lays the golden egg. I would like nothing more than for St. Maarten to finally have a balanced budget. Having worked as the executive assistant of a former Minister of Finance for one year, gave me first-hand knowledge of our financial predicament and therefore, I agree that we have to cut our spending wherever possible, while we create new and structural income for government and in the process of balancing our budget, systematically reduce the budget deficit of some 60 million guilders.
Mr. Gibson says that the budget for 2016 will have a surplus of 20 million guilders. Again this is welcome news. This means that if this trend is followed, our deficit will be eliminated within three years. My question here is can we not eliminate the budget deficit in four years rather than in three? This will then leave us with an additional five million guilders for each of those four years to invest in urgent and or priority projects that will faster help to contribute to our development.
I can fully appreciate the concern of The Hague with regard to balancing of our budget. However, it is my opinion that the right of self-governing is unjustly withheld from us, without concern for our priorities. Fact is that St. Maarten never had a balanced budget since we became country within the Kingdom in October of 2010. Also a fact is that we never received the 120 million guilders needed to build our country, which by the way we were entitled to.
Now I am not one to cry over spilled milk, nor to focus too long on the past. I have learned from it and am ready to move on. However, The Hague’s unjustified insistence on a balanced budget within a short term hampers in my opinion, the best way for us to move forward with the development of our young nation, which include, but are not limited to: 1. Construction of our own weather station that will bring in additional funds. 2. Construction of the waste to energy plant that will provide cheaper electricity to our populace, which in return provides for more buying power and most importantly, 3. Strengthening of our economy.
A strong economy brings funds to the coffers of Government. Paying non-urgent debts depletes the coffers of our Government and seriously jeopardizes the stabilization of our country. And so, there are other urgent and viable investments for Government to make. With these and other new revenues for the coffers, Government can focus on, for example, housing development, which is desperately needed. This also includes the repairs and maintenance of the houses under management of the St. Maarten Housing Foundation.
When our hospital is built, service cost of SZV will drastically reduce, based on funds saved on overseas referrals, thus structurally regulating their income to meet their financial obligations. This will in all likelihood provide profit for SZV of which, dividends have to be paid to Government. This dividend can be used to service the debt that government has outstanding with this institution.
In the meantime, Government can focus on other necessary and urgent development projects. It is the job of our Parliamentarians and Government to make Holland understand that, with all due respect for the Dutch politicians and in the spirit of a harmonious kingdom working relationship we need to be given room to develop our country with the oars that we got. I also agree with the present Minister of TEATT that traveling for the purpose of marketing of our destination is imperative for the enhancement of our tourism industry.
However, it is my strong belief that we need to have an attractive product to market before we market it. Walt Disney built Disney Land and then fully focused on the marketing campaign and strategies. So did the people of Maduro Dam and so us too, when we decided to build a bigger and attractive port and airport. But what we see now is that the rest of the Caribbean is competing with us by doing the same. We were once one step ahead, but we have now lost this competitive edge.
We must now think creatively and out of the box to offer a better product so that we will remain one step ahead. This means that we have to think on something that will be unique to St. Maarten and impossible to copy by other destinations. First, let’s invest our financial resources in niche markets. Once this is done, we can focus harder on marketing our destination. The construction of a boardwalk and breakwater for the Maho beach is such a project.
This beach which offers a spectacular view of airplanes landing and taking off is an attraction that no other island or country in the world has to offer. However, it poses potential for serious accidents, which guaranteed will jeopardize our industry and therefore we must safeguard it from any and all incidents. Also, this is a project that Government with the input of the Harbour and Airport, in cooperation with the Police Force Traffic Department, must embark on and not leave it up to private investors that will most likely set unfavourable conditions. And so, other creative ideas must be brought to the table and realized. Let us take pride in what is ours and have the satisfaction that it was done by us and for us.
Louis R. Engel
