PHILIPSBURG – The second day of the 2018 budget debate went through the motions on Tuesday morning and continued into the afternoon until the meeting was adjourned until 6.30 p.m. to give ministers the time to prepare their answers to the last batch of questions.
The day began with answers to questions MPs posed on Monday. The combined answers were like a patchwork of little known facts that will nevertheless have an impact on St. Maarten’s future.
Minister Mike Ferrier (Finance) announced that the old government administration building on Clem Labega Square will not be repaired, but torn down. An assessment of the post office building will determine the fate of that structure.
Ferrier said that he was tempted to make the list of 37 cost cutting measures public, even though the Council of Ministers still has to take a decision about it in its meeting of May 15.
The minister said that the concession fees for government-owned companies are booked in the budget as revenue based on the law. The harbor and Gebe have asked to waive the fees for 2018, but Ferrier pointed out that “payment arrangements are possible.”
Ferrier said that currently the government has 48 million guilders in the bank, that it has paid already 40 million to general pension fund APS from the division of assets of the former Netherlands Antilles and that the Bureau Telecommunication and Post (BTP) is 12.3 million guilders behind with the payment of its concession fees.
An agreement with Airbnb should bring in some badly needed revenue. “It is possible for Airbnb to collect taxes for the government from the rooms they rent out in St. Maarten,” Ferrier said. “Under the agreement, they will promote the destination and collect taxes for the government. This will also generate income for home owners who let their rooms. Currently we collect zero from those activities.”
The equipment for the repairs of the Clem Labega Square parking – where motorists currently don’t have to pay a penny – has arrived, Minister of General Affairs Leona Marlin-Romeo said. The intention is to bring the square back to paid parking as soon as possible.
Marlin-Romeo told MP Christophe Emmanuel that she considers his – currently failed – flagpole project on the Harold Jack Hill a great idea. While the pole now stands alone and forlorn, the minister said that the government will adorn it again with a flag made of durable material that will not go to shreds.
As was to be expected, the minister pointed out to MP Emmanuel that the initiative for a consultative referendum about independence should come from Parliament and not from her office.
Minister Emil Lee acknowledged that the system for bringing in doctors from abroad to work here is “difficult” and that there is legislation in the making to solve this problem.
Minister Cornelius de Weever (Justice) informed Parliament that 30 police officers will be hired for the strengthening of border control over a two-year period. The cost of these officers will be covered from the recovery fund.
Members of Parliament sniggered when De Weever said that from the fifteen police cars the country received from the Netherlands after Hurricane Irma, five are already out of commission. “We use the parts from these cars to keep the other ten operational.”
The minister said that the Miss Lalie Center has been closed down, “due to a lack of staff, funds and damages caused by hurricane Irma” and that finding alternatives for youth detention is a work in progress.
Minister Miklos Giterson (Public Housing, Urban Planning, Environment and Infrastructure) said that a proposal for the introduction of a garbage fee is underway and that after the hurricane there has been a 25 percent increase in requests for building permits. “Many request are for the replacement of zinc roofs with concrete roofs. These request are getting priority.”
The minister furthermore announced that cruise ships on average leave 7,500 ton of garbage per year behind on the island that will go to the dump – a small percentage of the 120,000 ton citizens produce.
Before the break at around 4.30 p.m., opposition leader Silveria Jacobs emphasized the need for taxation on alcohol and tobacco and for legislation that would tax the import of data via the internet with “one-thousandth of a cent per byte.”
Jacobs also appeared open for the legalization of marijuana. “It has become as common place as beer,” she said. “I am ready to think about legalizing it.”
