$50M increase to public purse

| 12/03/2012

bag-of-cash.jpg(CNS): The premier will be presenting a spending increase of around $50 milllion to the Finance Committee of the Legislative Assembly Tuesday morning when he chairs a special session in his role as minister of finance. The committee will meet at 8:30am tomorrow but there will be no sitting of the Legislative Assembly or any change to this financial year’s appropriation law. Although Cabinet can, under the Public Management and Finance Law, approve a 10% increase in government spending without requiring a change to the legislation, government may have surpassed that threshold.

The government will be bringing a 200 page supplementary appropriations document to the committee hearing not only to move sums around from one ministry, portfolio or department to another but it will also be increasing public spending by more than $50 million, which is more than 10% of the core government budget for the 2012 to 2013 financial year.

The independent member for North Side, Ezzard Miller, said he believes that the government should bring an amendment to this year’s appropriation bill and actually change the law after a debate in the Legislative Assembly as he believes the spending increase is too great to be dealt with purely by Finance Committee.

“In reality I think government needs to change the law," Miller said. “Nevertheless, I shall be using the opportunity of Finance Committee to ask questions to find out how it is that the government needs to increase spending so much.”

With government now expecting a significant deficit by the year end on 30 June, in contrast to the original budgeted forecast of a small surplus, it is not clear how government intends to fund the deficit given that it is not allowed to enter into further borrowing under the terms of the Public Management and Finance Law.

The government spending increases also appear to be in contrast with the framework for financial responsibility that the premier signed in London with the UK's FCO minister last month. That document requires the Cayman Islands Government, among other things, to control government spending and reduce costs.

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  1. so Anonymous says:

    You can take the Bush out of Caymankind (often and first class all the way) but you can never take the Caymankind out of the Bush.

    Why try to change these foolish little men into good leaders?

    Why not search/find/vote in tried and tue ones in the first place?

    Is there no good qualified Caymanians that the people would like?

    Is it because Good men don not want to lead/change a Government full of bad people?

    Maybe these are the best possible Caymanian choices?

    Is it time to look beyond Caymanianism?

    Its either time for a change or close to the end.

    • Anonymous says:

      When politicians refuse to change to meet the wants and desires of the people; it is time for the people to change politicians!

    • Anonymous says:

      Your post is very insulting to Caymanians. I have noticed the practise by expats on this forum to use "Caymankind" to mean something negative, something inferior. This will hardly endear you to Caymanians or make them inclined to grant you rights in their country.

      • Beach Bhoy says:

        No, "Caymankind" is used to refer to when a locla poster is being rude, prejudiced, xenophobic or in other ways acting entirely contrary to the banal tourist advertising campaign.  You will see it quite often because such rude, prejudiced or xenophobic comments are common.  It is a valid comment that the reality of life in Cayman for expats is that interactions are often very far from annything one could call "kind" or "Caymankind".  Sarcasm may be beyond you, but it is a very effective device.

        Caymankind is an atrocious campaign.  The sign off tag line "an approach to life that are as unique as they are universal" (their emphasis not mine) is utter gibberish.

        • Anonymous says:

          You seem incapable of writing without insults. It is hardly surprising that there will be a backlash when Caymanians are daily subjected to rude, condescending comments like this.    

      • so Anonymous says:

        Please give me a different word that would adequately define the way things are done in Cayman.  What would a Caymanian call this?  

        I am not inclined to ask or need any Caymanian rights but would appreciate seeing human rights for expats in Cayman.

    • Anonymous says:

      We as a voting people have to learn that it is our fault is we are not happy with our elected officials.

      it is not their fault that we have fallen for thier  line of cr&p for all these years.  We, the voters, are the only ones that can change that.One man One vote will help us to have more hands on say in this area.

      Sign the petition. Please. Then you will have more say in who you support.  UDP or PPM or OTHER.

  2. Anonymously IRON CLAD says:

    LMAO… LMAO… LMAO !!!

  3. Anonymous says:

    Why now McKeeva? and why are you using Cayman Airways like a private plane to take you back and fort to Honduras? Why are you wasting so much there?  We don't need anymore business with Honduras, as the main gang comes to cayman via that route now. We don't need anything to do with that place. Stop wasting what we don't have McKeeva and Rolston. Those schools should had been finished long ago, if Rolstone did not make so many changes.  Just waste, waste and wasting is what this Government is ALL about.

  4. Anonymous says:

    Bellingham must be impressed with Big Mac's mastery of the budget process.

  5. TimeD Man says:

    Take a look at this place our beloved politicians & gov't officials practicing Voodoo politics and Voodoo economics that might explain why the Gov't business is so badly mismanaged. In any case we same to have a bunch of financial mystics deeply involved in mysticism. Here a solution to fix the problemNo Nepotism No Cronism No Patronage No Corruption. also on untill we stop rewarding senior Gov't officials for incompetence ineptness improper conduct and corruption. we are always going to be in this current state of affairs. Finally stop giving senior government post or postions to unqualified persons just because they are members of the Lodge.  Check Me later by da corner!                                                                                         

     

                                                                                                   

  6. A. Pastafarian says:

    We have the worst Minister of Finance imaginable!  Can we get someone else for that position?

    • Lachlan MacTavish says:

      A. Pastafarian….fine ….he is the worst, do something about it support the petition and get one man one vote and change the system.

      Lachlan MacTavish

  7. Anonymous says:

    Increasing authorised government expenditure by another $50 million that we don't have does not increase the public purse. It just gives more money to Mac to waste on travel and trying to buy votes.

    • Anonymous says:

      The $50 million has already been wasted to buy votes:

      Failed GLF deal $3million

      Churches & other "nation building" $10million

      Failed Cohen deal around $1million

      "Free" nursery school buildings and equipment added to primary schools & Cayman Brac $11 million

      9.7 million Cayman Turtle Farm

      "CI$7.2 million will be borrowed for a number of public works projects" including Hurricane Hilton and paving private parking lots in Cayman Brac.

  8. Anonymous says:

    Ia m sure the increases are for proects that will be tied directly with his vote gettin in the 2013 election..

  9. Anonymous says:

    Tax and spend… Whoops I mean charge "fees" and spend.

  10. Anonymous says:

    Maybe he is planning a 25% increase in Civil Service salaries, seamen & veteran's benefits, poor person relief, etc. and then announce elections in May this year.

  11. Naya Boy says:

    More money for this Law enforcement monster? We keep pumping money into Gov't agencies that there is no accountablility. How ironic 57 million police budget and now an additional 55 million spending. It is time to call for the removal of those responsible for causing these problems instead of continually throwing or wasting our money. It's time Cayman to hold those people incharge accountable. No more sweet talk from the culprits.

    • Anonymous says:

      Too funny!  NOW its time.

      Caymanians have done their best time and time again to hold those responsible.

      And nothing happened.

      And never will.

      Bush and his merry men have banked on this and grow richer, fatter, and farther away from their job description every day.  Caymanians have showed their power.  And no one noticed.

  12. Anonymous says:

    How about a Referendum to mandate that the CIG maintain normal acounting practices, a common internal account system, a reasonable "do not exceed" debt to GDP ratio (<30%), and personal fines/penalties for late reporting.  How about we lobby for important things like basic accountability concepts, BEFORE this guy (or his successor) uses OUR MONEY AGAIN for their own personal projects and nauseating GLORIFICATION?  We need to create the mechanisms to detect and arrest these spending abuses – which we all know are necesssary – before any new spending or capital projects can be approved.  Cayman is looking at a future where our heirs are buried in debt service obligations.  Both parties are to blame going back decades.  It's time for change.  We can't begin to clean it up until we instruct them to start keeping track!  It seems that neither party cares enough to want to encourage accountability, so we'll need to demand it to change our destiny, or continue to do nothing and whine about it afterwards.

  13. Anonymous says:

    Good job Mac is not a slave to the FCO!

  14. Anonymous says:

    A quote that comes to mind

    You have sat too long for any good you have been doing lately… Depart, I say; and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go!

  15. Anonymous says:

    shambles……. and no one knows whats going on…..

  16. Anonymous says:

    I hope this does not include $50 million to “save” Ryan’s mortgage.

  17. Anonymous says:

    Forget the recession, I'm spending…

    Forget the recession, I'm spending…

    • tishan.. says:

      Spending what???  When PPM was in, it came directly from the public purse. The figures the Premier provided for the $5 million in funding comes from Dart – we are not paying a cent of it:  $2.5 million for mortgage assistance /  $200,000 for sports and youth programmes /  $600,000 for schools capital projects, namely Savannah and Bodden Town Primaries / $650,000 for housing repairs for the elderly / $250,000 to start a hospitality training school / $200,000 for East End community projects / $150,000 for Cayman Brac play field capital works. No wonder the opposition is so envious of what is going on. UDP is all about spending yes, but not like PPM who spent and failed balanced the country's budget in 2008. They are already bragging that they will get another 4 years. Don't be surprised!

      • Anonymous says:

        Yes tishan, there is a Santa Claus.

      • Anonymous says:

        Any politician who brags he will be re-elected more than 14 months before an election is a fool. A week in politics is a long time. 

  18. Anonymous says:

    How can he afford it? he simply makes up a revenue figure to match it, its the oldest trick in the book, now we watch and see how the bottom drops out of this bucket again by June

  19. YOW!! says:

    YOW!! scratch, why dont you all MLA,s take a pay cut.   Complain, complain, complain about the Government spending, but every one of you wants McKeeva Bush to make sure your fat salary is in place every month.  Readers and writers think about that.

    • Anonymous says:

      wrong…. the opposition mla's called mckeevas bluff when he first suggested a pay cut(just onehis many flip-flops)….it was mckeeva who then failed to support his own idea….

      again I call on a journalist to list all the flip-flops, broken promises, missed deadlines, lies…etc by this administration…..

      anywhere else in the world mckeeva would have been forced to resign after his first 6 months…

  20. Knot S Smart says:

    Would anyone like to bet that the defecit will be around $80 million by June?

    • anonymous says:

      actually I was think it might be around $81M!!!  Lets get rid of both parties next elections.

      • Anonymous says:

        So you mean the $20m surplus claimed last June by the UDP was a lie? If so how do we know that the $81m deficit they claimed in June, 2009 was not also a lie? 

    • Anonymous says:

      guestimated defecit you mean ?  because both parties seem to make "OUR" cash evaporate

      into thin air