MLA: Cuts must be binding

| 03/03/2010

Cayman Islands News, Grand Cayman headline news(CNS): Following the premier’s announcement that government is about to cut civil service salaries and expenditure in an attempt to address what is now thought to be a $62 million plus deficit, the independent MLA for North Side has called on him to convene an emergency meeting of Finance Committee to ensure the public sector is legally bound to reduce spending. Ezzard Miller has also suggested that government should reduce expenditure on goods and services before it cuts salaries. Cutting pay, he says, will have a serious demoralizing impact on public servants at a time when government needs them to work harder than ever. Miller said the pay cuts were a tax on public sector workers.

Miller also pointed out that the premier cannot simply instruct the reduction of salaries and benefits or any other cuts in expenditure without altering the Appropriations Law, and therefore there needs to be a Finance Committee meeting. The independent representative said while he fully supported the government’s move to cut MLA salaries, government should not cut the salary of public servants until otheroptions had been fully exhausted.

“With operating expenditures at the levels we have, somebody in the civil service is doing the work,” Miller said. “To reduce salaries now will reduce the motivation and commitment of those that are working hard and they will be tempted away into the private sector. What we are doing essentially is taxing civil servants to balance the budget.”

He called for all of the fifteen elected members of parliament on both sides of the House to put their heads together at a Finance Committee meeting with heads of departments and chief officers and go through the budget line by line until the necessary savings had been made to reduce the deficit as much as possible.

 Miller said it was time for the blame game to end and for the politicians to work together to sort out the dire financial circumstances. “I believe it is no longer important … who got us here,” he added. “We must pay attention to how we got ourselves into this financial position, to avoid such circumstances in the future. The hard cold facts are that we are here and what needs urgent attention and the application of the best minds … is what is the best way out of this situation.”

The backbencher and sole independent politician in the House admitted it would take effort and time but it was what was needed to be done. “It will obviously take us several days to go through each line item, but that’s what we are paid for,” Miller observed, and added that the only way to cut government expenditure was to do so in Finance Committee under the Appropriations Law, otherwise the cuts to salaries or anything else would not be legally enforceable.

He said Finance Committee was the correct forum to allow all of the elected officials to make constructive contributions and wrestle with the financial problems and make the necessary cuts collectively. “This is the only committee that provides for such a forum to exchange ideas, proposals and suggestions whose final decisions are biding on the expenditures of the administrative arm of government.”

Miller warned that the current government would get caught out in the same way the previous administration had if it did not go to Finance Committee and officially cut the approved line items. He recalled how the previous PPM administration had issued an edict to cut spending by 6%, but because it was not formalized it simply did not happen and this will happen again unless government physically takes money away.

“The actual reduction in specific votes is the only guarantee that the civil service administration cannot spend the full amount allocated,” he added.”If this is not done, it will be very near impossible for the political arm of government to monitor and control expenditure by the civil service arm.”

A show of bi-partisan commitment to address the budget problem would also assist the premier when he goes to London to negotiate with the UK government over the current finances of the Cayman Islands government, Miller suggested.

He called for Finance Committee to meet next week as a result of the urgency regarding finances and stated he had sent a letter to both the premier, McKeeva Bush, and the leader of the opposition, Kurt Tibbetts. While the opposition told CNS they would be happy to support Miller’s request, Bush has said that he would not be calling the finance meeting for next week as he will be in London and the LA would be reconvened on or around the 24 March. 

"At this point, there is no need to call the committee as the civil service are working with us to make the cuts and if I am not satisfied with what happens I will go to Finance Committee," Bush said. The implication by Miller regarding the previous administration not succeeding in cuts because they did not go to Finance Committee was incorrect and the previous administration had simply overspent, Bush said. 

"At this time I have no confidence that  the PPM has anything to offer in Finance Committee," the premier told CNS. "They are a pack of liars and I am not goingto allow them to play politics with this country. I don’t have time to waste."

Check back to CNS later to see the latest story on civil service meeting held Wednesday and the premier’s comments on the way forward.

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  1. Anonymous says:

     

    Top level civil servant salaries and MLA salaries are much higher than they need to be.

    Yes, definitely cut the higher salaries by 20%  (but not those making less than 35K pa)

    Why do they need to make 3 times more than the GDP per capita ($43 K US in 2004 = 35K CI)? (ie over 90 K CI per annum)

  2. Anonymous says:

    If you listened to March 9, Cayman Crosstalk, Ezzard solved the budget crisis all by himself.

    He saved $70,000,000.00CI in about 30 minutes.

    Why have all these high paid civil servants and politicians when Ezzard solved it by himself. He had his own personal finance committee meeting.

    We should just send Ezzard to the UK, he can solve everything.

    Ezzard is my hero.

  3. anon says:

    The Time has come for Trade Unions.  Civil Service Association has yet to speak to the Civil servants and arrange a meeting what are they doing for us? NOTHING!  this is a clear breech of the terms and conditions of employment! I say we SICK OUT!!! All Schools, Police, Nurses!  This is bull-crap! Step up CICSA?  whats up???  you going to acept this?

  4. Anonymous says:

    Ezzard is simple trying to make this into a political issue, instead of focusing an the main issue which is the deficit and how best to reduce it.

    If he is the a politician as he said on many occasion that stands for the overall good of Cayman, then he should be supporting this proposal instead of spending his energies opposing it. Ezzard, you are more concerned about your salary that the deficit of the country that is the bottom line. Ezzard the best way to demonstrate nationalism is by doing tangible things, not by just simple mentioning the word. There are many persons who look at your words on nationalism as just that words, you need to start showing the public that you have the ability to lead.

    Whether you likeMr Bush or not, you have to admire him for taking a stance and making this proposal, that from all the public statements made by politicians non of them would have had the courage to implement the MLA salary reduction plan. Mr. Bush what you have done has the support of the majority so don’t make the so call nationalist or more like selfish politicians make you think otherwise.

     

     

  5. Anonymous says:

    People,

    ENOUGH WITH THIS PARTISAN FOOLISHNESS!

    INDEPENDENTS NEED TO GET TOGETHER AND RESTORE THIS COUNTRY BACK TO A "NON-PARTISAN COUNTRY" LIKE IT WAS BEFORE!

    What kind of system is this?!

  6. Civil Dialogue says:

    I am a civil servant and I believe that a reduction in salaries can be achieved provided it is done in a fair manner and only after all other means are found to be insufficient to address or current deficit. I believe Mr. Miller’s proposal is one to consider.

    Cutting salaries or taking other controversial measures must be coupled with means to motivate an employee. The notion of cutting salaries or reducing employees is bound to make employees fearful, nervous or even depressed. Our civil servants should not feel threatened by the announcement of a salary reduction but instead they should be encouraged to have hope and to have confidence in our future. The despair that sets in at times like these can make an unpleasant situation worse. Therefore, we cannot afford to further depress our civil servants during such difficult times.

    * This is when we need them to be hard at work, being innovative and implementing measures to increase efficiency while providing exceptional customer service.

    * This is a time when they also need to be offer opportunities and not just "work much harder for much less”.

    Some of the comment being posted on this media gives cause for concerns as many persons appears to have an agenda to simply ridicule our civil servants. YES we are all concerned about our current affairs but our criticisms should to be humane and constructive, would you like to be on the receiving end of some of these posts? We can be assertive with our concerns without being ill-mannered.

     

    Let’s not attempt to negatively paint the ambitions of our civil servants with a broad brush as doing so is unjust to many hard working persons within the service. The majority of our civil servants are hard working and in several instances they are underpaid. Instead lets

    In this instance, I commend the efforts of our premier. However, HIS DOMINEER IS NOT CONDUCIVE IN ADDRESSING OUR CHALLENGES. I disagree with regards to his statement "At this time I have no confidence that the PPM has anything to offer in Finance Committee. They are a pack of liars and I am not going to allow them to play politics with this country. I don’t have time to waste." Such statements give me great concern as the people of these islands duly elected all members to assist in formulating Laws, Regulations and policies. We had better work collectively to address our challenges as failing to do so could have dire consequences.

  7. Anonymous says:

    HERE’S MY TWO CENTS IF IT EVEN MATTERs………….

    Let see where the Government can save lots and lots of money ? 

    Firstly: PRISON ever prisoner is getting about 55,000.00 per year cut this in half per prisoner. feed then on CORNBEEF AND SUGAR WATER. STOP spending money on Steak, Fish, Lobster, Conch and Whelks oh and Turlte meat.  (who cares if they have health issues and can only eat certain kinds of food. behave yourself stay out of jail, and you can have all this nice food at home stop relying on the government to feed you this in prison) or have there family members provide food for them just like other prisons.  

    Secondly: Health Insurance, Every Government Employee needs to start paying half of there health insurance and pension regardless what position he or she holds.  just like the private sectors.

    Thirdly: The Government salaries cut by 20% like Mckeeva suggested.  

    Fourthly: Bring in the National Lottery System. (put a limit one can spend weekly or monthly)

    Half of the Island problem solve !!!!!!!!!!!!!  —– I would think   

  8. Anonymous says:

    Why does Ezzard have to be so inflammatory?

    Ezzard calls cutting civil service salaries as an income tax on the civil service. What dream world is Ezzardliving in? If he has ever paid income tax which I doubt he would know how dumb that statement really is and he will achieve nothing but to inflame civil servants.

    Well done Ezzard you are making things much better.

    Ezzard says that there are in any organization people who work hard and people who go with the tide. Ezzard is afraid that the people who do nothing will do less. What is less than nothing Ezzard?

    Am I the only one who actually listens to this guy? Ezzard should stick with the wheel clamping issue so he limits his damage to the country.

  9. Anonymous says:

    I wish these Politicians, who are suppose to be "educated", would go back to their first year of college and do it all over again!  I took a "required" speech class, which they all clearly need to re-take.  I learnt a lot from that class so I made sure to keep my text book entitled, Communicating at Work – Principles and Practices for Business and the Professions.  There is an entire chapter dedicated to Working in Teams.

    As taken from the above mentioned book:
     
     What makes a group a team?
     
    ·         Clear and inspiring shared goals
    ·         A results-driven structure
    ·         Competent team members
    ·         Unified commitment
    ·         Collaborative climate
    ·         Standards of excellence
    ·         External support and recognition
    ·         Principled Leadership
     
    Remember that everyone is watching and listening.  How can I have faith in "grown" Politicians, who are too immature to work together and cannot compose themselves, when faced with conflicting ideas?  You should really be ashamed of yourself for the way you reply to other members.  Please think before you open your mouth, "Premier" and Ellio; it’s an embarrassment to the Cayman Islands. 
     
    In closing, at the rate you’re going you will soon self-destruct, unfortunately we will pay.
     
  10. Anonymous says:

    "To reduce salaries now will reduce the motivation and commitment of those that are working hard and they will be tempted away into the private sector. What we are doing essentially is taxing civil servants to balance the budget.”

    Well, Ezzard still keeps living in the past. Look around, all countries are cutting back on government salaries, including those in Europe and US too. If you have no choice, what else can you do? Otherwise you will get a push for taxes from the UK.

    Anyways, those in the government are quite well off with paid studies and paid insurance and pension, so they can afford to have a cut of 10% in the situation of the worldwide economic crisis situation.  Nowadays the laws of competition are more visible than ever and no reasonable person would leave or would risk to lose a job due to a small pay cut.

    • Fuzzy says:

      To Anonymous 10:05 on Thu.  If you read the article again you will see that Ezzard is suggesting that before we make the civil service cuts we make sure that there’s no other choice.

    • waste says:

      everyday..everday ..yes everday no amount of money coming in can stop the amount going out..not in salaries but waste…why mostly incompetence, impathy or ignorance.  My question is this..how are we going to afford these schools running so why are they building them..educators keep talking about them but really how are we going to afford them forget the uniforms start thinking about the lights..

      Don’t worry watch and see how quickly the Cayman Corporate Secrets Law is repealed so they can get all that dormant money then send (O I mean waste) for a couple more years

  11. Anonymous says:

    Does anybody else remember the voluntary salary cut that McLKeeva took about 11 or 12 years ago?  He, and about 3 other MLAs promoised to take a pay cut and the money would go to a scholarship for a young caymanian to study.  What ever happened to that money? Did anyone ever get the scholarships? It certainly got press coverage at the time.

    • Wake me when it's over says:

      "Does anybody else remember the voluntary salary cut that McLKeeva took about 11 or 12 years ago?"

      What?????

      Eleven or twelve years ago????

      He’s been in politics that long??

      How long have Tibby and Chuckie and Ezzie and those other guys been around???

      Wake me when it’s over

  12. Anonymous says:

     “To reduce salaries now will reduce the motivation and commitment of those that are working hard and they will be tempted away into the private sector. What we are doing essentially is taxing civil servants to balance the budget.”

     

    I don’t think too many "are working hard" and will have a reduced "motivation and committment" as there are 10 people doing the same job that only takes one person.

     

    It is kind of hard to reduce motivation any further when there isn’t any to begin with.

  13. Da Game says:

    Since we are in a Crisis and cutting Civil servants salaries  I think it is high time we cut off all these wealthy millionaires ex politicians who are collecting all these benefits and big pensions. We all know who they are driving around with their big trucks Boats Benzes and convertible Jags and assessment should be carried out to determine need. Yes all these freeloaders abusing the system when they can afford to pay shame on them no conscience whatsoever they help create this problem .They should have to Pay just like everybody else. Come on Mac deal these greedy Millionaires.

  14. Anonymous says:

    Ezzard is simply attempting to reverse the decision to cut MLA salaries…He is on record saying he does not support the cutting of MLA salaries. No one has demoralized the Civil Servants more than he has on his Tuesday morning radio show. He has consistently demeaned the Civil Service.

  15. Anonymous says:

    I don’t know why Mr. Miller is not the Premier! Thank you Mr. Miller, as The Premier is the Father of the House shouldn’t he not know that this has to be done in Finance Committee.

  16. Anonymous says:

    Cutting the MLA pay is a good thing just as cutting the civil service pay is a good thing. It lets everyone know that this crisis is for real.

    Ezzard isn’t for the pay cuts because dealing with the tough problems isn’t his strength.

    This is exactly the type of fiscal start that puts everyone on alert that the government is serious.

    If & when the government goes back to the UK to negotiate the debt ratio laws the government will have a demonstration of the seriousness of their intentions to deal with this problem.

  17. Anonymous says:

    Let him continue Mr. Miller, he will soon discover the meaning of "class action suit" when he goes around violating people’s contractual rights through threats and bullying.

  18. Anonymous says:

    "Pack of liars"? What a typically eloquent expression from our bumbling premier. No wonder our crime rate is what it is when the ostensible leadership of this country behaves in this way.  I think the country has a pretty good idea of who is being innacurate at any point in time and we have seen enough examples of that over the last few weeks! I also do not understand the comments suggesting that Ezzard is playing politics – I dont agree with all of his perspectives but it seems to me that he can only be right in this case. The solution requires a bi-partisan approach and it is very short sighted of McKeeva to think that he can come up with the answers – his monstrous waste of money at Boatswains Beach is a perfect example of part of the problem and why he cant come up with the answers! One would think that getting the whole house to buy into what will be unpopular cuts would be desirable particularly to reduce subsequent criticism from within and to show solidarity externally as Ezzard suggests. Unfortunately that might require the members on the Government bench to "grow a brain" to borrow a recent expression from one of their leading lights. With the typical intra-cranial drought conditions that exists between their ears I dont think that will happen anytime soon! Sadly they continue to demonstrate that ego and avarice requires little intellectual capital to flourish and those two are the root of the evils facing Cayman reflected from street crime to corruption.  

  19. Anonymous says:

    Which world is Mac living in?  The world recession caused the PPM gov’t to incur an operational deficit.  He came to power and spent as if it was business as usual.  Now he is facing a $73 million operational deficit.  If he thinks I buy that crap that it is still PPM’s fault, he’d better think again and I am sure there are many others that are not so fool either.  Unfortunately, it is not election year.  His arrogance proceeds him in ignorance!

  20. Anonymous says:

    so ezzard does not want to cut jobs or pay..what is his solution?.what next, set up a big committee to look at limiting cell phone use, turning off lights….?

  21. Anonymous says:

    just when the wastage in the civil service is to be seriously tackled…good ole backward ezzard puts a spanner in the works…..

    maceeva, please press ahead with your reforms.. it’s now or never…don’t let the backward politics of miller/ppm stop you

  22. Anonymous says:

    Mac calling the PPM a bunch of liars…..bahahahahahaha! That’s a good laugh!!

    Who lies more than that one who calls himself a christian?!!

  23. durrrr says:

    Welcome to the real world, Hazzard.

     

    There have been wide ranging redundancies, pay-cuts, and bonus-cancellations throughout the private sector over the last 12 months. Where were the calls to stop "taxing" us? We’re just as Caymanian as those who work in the Civil Service.

     

    It’s time we brought our Government spending in line with other similar-sized countries, and the options are simple: people get layed off, or everyone takes a hit. Your choice, Hazzard.

    • Fuzzy says:

      To durrr ;I am trying to find a post or comment by Hazzard but having no luck.Can you assist.

  24. Anonymous says:

    Anyone that feels like a tall glass of reality should check out the good Doctor’s letter in the 3/3/10 Compass. Ingredients of this drink include a discussion of the ‘myth’ which forms the basis of our tax exemption and a reference to the Princess and the Frog.

    Salud!

    • Anonymous says:

      A poorly written piece written by Frank McField, laden with grammatical errors and for some reason obsessed with the ‘myth’.

      • Anonymous says:

        I thought it was a pretty good letter.

        And he’s right to point out this ridiculous myth. The story of a King’s son being saved and the island being granted non-tax status is so stupid it hardly bears repeating. But many people to believe it, ot at least they pretend to. Some dope was even going on about it on the radio last week.

  25. Anonymous says:

    Only in Cayman do you have a politician wasting 3 hours every week on the radio.

    Ezzard’s time should be spent in a more productive matter trying to find solutions to the current budget problems instead of spinning the issues to ingratiate yourself.

    That also goes for all the other politicians that call into the Rooster.  Morning talk with a uninformed host is no place for the Heads of State.

    If the leaders of this nation want to solve the issues they can start by meeting every weekday morning from 7 to 10am in a closed room without radio or web access.

    If Austin is worth his salt he will find other guests and community events to discuss.

     

    • Fuzzy says:

      Perhaps if Ezzard was spending three hours a week on radio talking about cruelty to animals or trying to foce each one of us to adopt a pet you would find that more interesting than speaking to the issues that affect the" people".

      • Anonymous says:

        at least it would be something different to the constant expat bashing…..

      • Anonymous says:

        Fuzzy:

        It would have more relevance than much that this silly backward looking man goes on about. But we would never see him addressing cruelty to animals issues; that’s a "furriner’ piece of foolishness.

    • Anonymous says:

      To anonymous at 21:41        Some of us actually welcome the chance to hear directly from, or speak directly to our representative instead of getting it relayed through someone like yourself who might just slant it to suit your way of thinking .                                                                          

    • Anonymous says:

      Let’s be clear: McKeeva Bush is not Head of State. HM the Queen is the Head of State and her representative in the territory is the Governor. The Premier is the head of the Elected Govt. which is nonetheless presided over by the Governor. 

      When we hear nothing from politicians we say that they are inaccessible, unconcerned and living in their ivory towers. Here is an opportunity not only to hear from them but also question or challenge their ideas in a very public forum that has a bigger audience than any meeting they could have, and yet here you are complaining. Who knows our feedback may actually influence their thinking.  

      It is govt.’s job to formulate policy as to how to address issues and the opposition’s job to examine those policies to determine whether they are in the public interest, and if, necessary publicly criticise them.  Ezzard is doing his job as a part of the Opposition. ThePPM are beginning to do theirs as the official Opposition.    

  26. Anonymous says:

    So does this now infer that the private sector can cut employee salaries willy-nilly and without any agreement from the employee.

    As an employer, the last time I checked the Labour Law- this was NOT allowed. But heck- if the Government can do it without consequences, then I will be damned if I am going to let the opportunity past me by so that I can save my fledgling company.

    How about a simple excercise- conduct PERFORMANCE APPRAISALS on ALL Civil Servants and get rid of the non-performers and A++ scartchers and retain and retool those who work.

    Additionally- re-centralize the functions of Government and do away with all the CFO’s, all the HR Chiefs, all the PR Personnel as I have been made to understand that these are mostly held by non-Caymanians.

    Mac- this is somewhat a noble move- however more thought could have gone into it with more options being laid on the table.

    • Anonymous says:

      Actuallyrecentralising government operations would be an excellent idea.  As I understand it from a government employee, hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars a year are wasted on warehouse and other commerical rentals by the government.  Apparently they have rentals spread all over the island.  If all these operations were centralised into one building, imagine the savings there.

      • Anonymous says:

        Thurs 12:22!

        The problem with your post is this: "As I understand it from a Government employee". It’s complete crap – the civil service marl road which is as useless as the other one.

  27. Anonymous says:

    FOLKS,

    ALL I HAVE TO SAY
    I DON’T LIKE EZZARD,
    BUT THE MAN IS RIGHT!
     
    *****
    There should be more INDEPEDENTS in the LA! 
     
    Let us, next election remove this "Partisan Rule" from the House and bring in INDEPENDENT THINKERS who can come together and make solid and meaningful decisions. ENOUGH WITH PARTY POLITICS THAT DIVIDES THE COUNTRY!
     
    SAY OUT LOUD – 
     
    "NO MORE SHALL I VOTE STRAIGHT ALONG PARTY LINES!"
    • Anonymous says:

       

      My whole family cheers you on – 100%

    • Fuzzy says:

      To Anonymous Wed.20:28.  I am with you 100%.With the assistance of radio talk shows Ezaard has made it possible for listeners to form their opinion of him on what he has to say and his actions in the house rather than what the leader or spokesman for some political party has to say. We may not agree with him but we at least where he stands on any given subject.Wouldn’t it be great if each of the other mlas could get on the radio and tell us exactly where they stand on any given subject rather than what the party line is.I  believe Ezzard is showing that there is a place for independents in the LA and so I expect to more of them elected next time around

  28. Anonymous says:

     "At this time I have no confidence that  the PPM has anything to offer in Finance Committee," 

    McKeeva, really?  You are to lead this country and you won’t even work with the "other side".  How come you just make decisions without telling your employees first.  Why do Civil Servants always hear the news through the news outlets.  And moreover, why can’t the Financial Secretary every seem to get any projections right?  It seems that he can’t count beans, let alone actually make any projection that is close. Time for him to go, and you lambasted the last government for inaccurate predictions?  Your spending is down, but your revenue is also down and you can’t project the revenue.  Aren’t you the head of the Ministry in charge of finance?  Or is this more of your "banking" background coming to light on why that bank failed.

    The Civil Servants are willing to take cuts BUT only after everything is done, and it seems that not everything has been done to this point.  No one is running away and certainly civil servants will have to do their part, but the excess MUST stop before you ask for anything.

  29. Anonymous says:

    Top level civil servant salaries and MLA salaries are much higher than they need to be.

    Yes, definitely cut the higher salaries by 20%  (but not those making less than 35K pa)

    Why do they need to make 3 times more than the GDP per capita ($43 K US in 2004 = 35K CI)? (ie over 90 K CI per annum)

     

     

  30. Anonymous says:

     IREALLY DONT KNOW WHERE TO BEGIN, WHAT A MESS WHICH ONLY SEEMS TO GET WORSE BY THE DAY, KNEE JERK DECISIONS MADE BY SO CALLED LEADERS (past and present may i add)

    ok so government is broke again? who actually is responsible for letting it get in this state? is anyone actually responsible or did the governments just spend spend spend like fools winning the lottery? 62 million? wow.

    yes cut MLA pay and make people pay towards pensions. sell off government so called assets. 85million for the new "GLASS HOUSE"  how broke is that? all priorities are arse first. its a shambles.

    now cutting civil servants pay? they are allready living under the inflation level. leave them alone for a start.

    we need people who actually know what they are doing to run the country. soon everyone will begin pulling out of cayman and these fools will be left scratching their fat arses saying wa appennnnnnnn?

  31. A concerned Caymanian says:

     Kudos to you Sir Miller!

    This has been my argument and point EXACTLY ever since I heard about this proposed chopping up of Civil Servants life!

    MY GOVERNME NT, a Government that’s supposed to be FOR the People BY the People!

    Are you or have you done ALL you possibly can to explore any other routes that could be taken in saving money other Have ALL the other options been fully exhausted?

    NO! I really don’t think so. I honestly don’t think you have. I honestly think that this is purely an act of laziness! This should have been the last resort!

    I know right now its do or die but how easily forget the big fat Raise the MLA gave themselves a little while back!  

    So have your ministers gone to their designated areas and offices to meet with their staff members in regards to WHAT their ideas as Civil Servants are? NO! I know my minster hasn’t come to mine! Surveys….put together some surveys and let it run throughout the entire Civil Service family and see what you can accumulate, you might be surprised! We all are BUBBLING over in our offices with ways that would significantly change the route we are going if only you gave us an ear!

    I know something must be done, but chopping up the lives of the Crew on your Ship i.e. Civil Servants lives shouldnot be an option at this point. Its going to come back around and give you a slap in your face. I’ve already heard people saying how they will in turn run up the phone bill at work, take extra long lunches, have more frequent breaks throughout the day and in the end just not give two hoots about their job if you punish them in this way. I can just feel how sad a day it would be if this is put forward implemented and moved ahead with!  DON’T DO IT! Its going to get ugly!

     

    In closing I just want to say, my fellow Civil Servants, please join me on bended knee by your bedside tonight in prayer for our country, its hopefully gracious leaders, and for God to be ever so merciful as to bless this Country with prosperity from EVERY angle! We have seen enough, Crime, Violence and other downfalls, lets pray we can come out of this debit hole and be a prosperous country once again! Amen and Amen!

    God Bless You Cayman!

  32. Anonymous says:

    Common sense and maturity !!! Thank god for Ezzard !!! 

    "I don’t have time to waste"  "They are a packof liars"

    Really Mac ?  Time to grow up and stop this crap!

    You have 15 MLA members. Time to sit down and figure this out. You don’t have the luxury of doing things your way again and losing even more money. Listen to you house members, throw ideas around and everyone decide how to save this country TOGETHER.

    Really – stop the XXXX !

     

     

  33. anonymous says:

    How about we start with the incompetent govt. heads of departments who are charged with the responsibility of controlling their budgets, implementing  internal controls and producing timely audited reports.  Until they and/or board of directors are held accountable nothing will change.  Whose going to tackle that?  Aren’t they all answerable to the Financial Secretary.  Oh, where is he?

  34. Lachlan MacTavish says:

     The politico’s should have been attacking this issue 2-3 years ago (or maybe 2 decades ago 😉 …….Reality is the country has no money. The duty, tax, fee system doesn’t work when times are tough and it will get tougher before it gets better. Mr. Miller this is no time now for politrics, pontificating, pointing fingers, rants on radio shows or the blame game. Time to get things under control. The Premiere is finally standing up and attacking the issue of balancing the budget, which everyone including Mr. Miller has asked for, and now that he is addressing the over bloated Civil Service Mr Miller now plays "politrics". Cut public spending….but cut the CS as well. Cut cut until you are budgeted then re build. There isn’t any dosh….there are no new income streams, no tourism reinvention, no reduction in fin ser fees to attract business and the world economy continues to flounder.

    Reality check ………

    • Dred says:

      This Sir is where we part ways. I believe the old system can work even in today’s era. Our problem is one of excess. We became so laxed on all the money we were making we forgot how to budget and stand by our budget and hold people accountable when budgets were not met.

      To now turn this around will force us into some rather rough decisions. We need to trim the government staffing OR create new revenue sources for the staff to be filtered out to.

      Big Mac governments success will not be measured by what monuments he builds during his 4 years but about how ne navigated us out of debts and back to viability. His greatest problem right now is him not accepting the role he must play. He wants us out of debt in 1 year so he can take the next 3 years to secure a second term by doing some monuments unto himself. The problem with this is that he will create more damage both short and long term than it is worth. The simple fact is he was dealt some sh!tty cards and he simple can only play them the way they must be played. Right now he is overplaying his hand extremely.

      His greatest mistake is in not realising that the navigation itself CAN BE the monument. What a leader does is not always measured by what he builds but by the simple fact of the country being better off than it was when he took control of it.

      He completed Kurts job and got us off the ever famous gray list. That was task one. He needs to take a better course on the second one because he is trying to do too much too fast and I think he needs to buck heads with England to get them to understand that this is not a 1 and done thing. This recession will take us a few years to get back to where we were.

      I think he just needs to sit down and screw his head on straight. He needs to be a little more like Kurt right now than Big Mac but not as much. He just needs to think and talk things out some.

    • Fuzzy says:

      Mr MacTavish,I wonder if you are commenting on the above article or something else.I suggest that you read the article again and you will see that Mr Miller is asking that cutting civil service pay be done only after all other possibilities have been explored.At the present time some of us are not convinced that this has been done.

  35. Anonymous says:

    Until the responsibility for the excessive capital spending is placed and accepted then what is to say that such financial behavior will not reoccur.

    The more the country and its people are asked to sacrifice it is incumbent upon those who had a hand in creating this problem to assure the country that they have learned their lesson.

    Until this responsibility is levied and accepted then asking the people to sacrifice will be met with skepticism at best.

    This must not happen again, the UK must be shown this as well before they will ever be willing to ease debt ratio limitations on the Cayman Islands.

  36. A Noni Mouse says:

    Well at least that would bring them in line with private sector workers who are similarly "taxed".

  37. Anonymous says:

     Government needs to look at real, long-term change to the benefits civil servants receive.  I know several government employees who have stated that they would gladly pay their pension contribution rather than having government pay the percentage and then match it.  Why not look at bringing that particular aspect of pay into line with what goes on in "the real world"?  That is a logical, long-term means of saving government millions of dollars.  Thank you.

  38. Save Cayman NOW! says:

    Salaries cuts?…

    Mr. Miller is on record in the past saying that he was against cuts to MLA’s salaries and that he deserved the pay he was getting, so I don’t expect much cooperation on his part…

    You need to cut ASAP some $60 million and this can ONLY be done through salary cuts, heath care contributions and cutting the Civil Servants numbers which are much bloated when compared to similar jurisdictions…

    Mr. Miller, you should support McKeeva in this difficult situation, instead of trying diversion tactics, while trying to ingratiate yourself to certain parts of the electorate…

    Go for it McKeeva, brush the objections aside and see through cutting off the Civil Service fat…

    While at it, please make sure that the Civil Servants that stole gas are  prosecuted, made to pay back the money, including heavy fines and then, kick them out of the Civil Service…

    • Anonymous says:

      i don’t beleive ezzard for one second…. while saying he supports reducing spending he is doing everything he can to stop a very modest cut in salaries….. very strange……..

  39. Anonymous says:

    The only time in my life I have ever agreed with Ezzard! I hope they all makesure the Chief Justice and all the legal people in Government are on board with all this because in the past they have been VERY difficult to deal with, believing they are different from everyone else. If they cite all sorts of reasons why they can’t lose their pay (constitutional protection etc etc), then civil and public servants should simply refuse to accept any cuts too.