MP Heyliger-Marten questions appointment of two full-time directors at the Cadastre

PHILIPSBURG — Independent MP Grisha Heyliger-Marten want Minister of Finance Ardwell Irion to put the recruitment of a full-time Chief Financial Officer and a Chief Operations Officer at the Cadastre on hold. The MP states in a press release that these appointments would put a serious dent in the Cadastre’s net result.

On April 3, MP Heyliger-Marten sent a letter to Minister Ardwell via the president of parliament, Siddharth Bijlani, asking for information about the Cadastre based on article 14.2 of the institution’s articles of incorporation. On May 23, parliament received the requested information about the Cadastre’s administration and its financial policies.

“The appointment of a full-time CFO and a COO will lead to a reduction of 75 percent of the net result of the foundation, just in one year.”

Heyliger-Marten is not the only one who has serious doubts about the intended appointments. Former director Clemens Roos, while withholding other comments, told StMaartenNews.com that appointing a financial director who reports directly to the supervisory board is asking for trouble. “In that case there will be two people in charge while there is no hierarchy. There cannot be two captains on one ship. Two management members who independently report to the supervisory board is a blueprint for disaster.”

The question is of course whether the Cadastre really needs a financial director. The Cadastre generates its income mainly from measuring parcels of land and from registering deeds. It also issues extracts from the registers, sells copies of deeds, does title research and reviews and registers the division of apartment rights.

Upon request, realtors received quarterly (anonymized) reports about established mortgages and object transactions.

Observers say that a small organization like the Cadastre does not need a financial director to keep track of all this and that the work can easily be done by a second-level bookkeeper. Outsourcing is also an option.

MP Heyliger-Marten suspects that the appointments will lead to “even larger negative financial results,” even if the rates charged to the public are increased drastically.

“Based on the improved performance of the Cadastre during the past year with just one managing director, and looking at the size of the organization, I cannot imagine that hiring two additional full-time directors can be justified financially.” The MP adds that the current supervisory board has just three months left before its term expires.

Heyliger-Marten therefore looks forward to clarifications from the minister of finance “to this serious threat to the viability of the Cadastre.”

###

Related news:
“Politics is heavily involved in filling management positions at the Cadastre”
MP Heyliger-Marten wants closed-door meeting of Parliament with Cadastre-management