Hints on fiscal year change
(CNS): The minister for education has revealed that members of the Legislative Assembly are never likely to agree on moving the election date back to November, and as a result it would be better to change the country’s financial year to run from 1 January to 31 December. Speaking during the debate on amendments to the Public Management and Finance Law on Wednesday afternoon to remove the 1 May deadline for government to present its budget statement to the House, Rolston Anglin said that when government undertook a wider review of the PMFL the financial year should be amended.
Although the members of the Legislative Assembly have raised the question of moving the election back to November on a number of occasions, the two parties have never been able to agree to cut short or extend an existing administration’s term. Despite this, the idea of moving the election date back to November has persisted, but Anglin’s comments suggest government is now considering this alternative proposition of moving the financial calendar instead.
The minister pointed out that by changing the financial year rather than trying to get an agreement on changing the election date, the government would bring the Cayman Islands in line with other governments around the world. He said that the January to December year was always preferable but that it had only been changed in the first place to accommodate the country’s election calendar.
In the wake of Hurricane Ivan in 2004 the scheduled November election was postponed until May 2005, extending the then UDP administration’s term by some six months. When the PPM won that election, as an opposition the UDP would not agree to the PPM government adding six months to their term to return to a November date, nor would the PPM agree to cut their term short.
As a result Cayman was forced into another May election, while the fiscal year stretched from 1 July to 30 June. That meant that again a new administration was presented with the problem of not having enough time to prepare its own full budget and having to use the policy directions from the previous administration to present a short temporary budget before bringing a more comprehensive financial plan in October.
During the debate surrounding the current government’s budget difficulties Anglin said that, as there was no sign the election-cycle was ever going to change, the only solution was to change the financial year.
“I don’t hold out any hope of this House agreeing on a change to the election date so we are stuck with May,” Anglin stated, adding that a December year-end was more desirable. “We changed the budget date because of the November election cycle and now we have May elections. The best answer is to go to a December year-end.”
Anglin stated that when government completed its full and comprehensive review of the Public Management and Finance Law it would be one of the areas government would examine.
Category: Headline News
I say the voters call for a referendum and lets make Rolston Anglin our Premier!
He has the brain, education, experience and intestinal fortitude to do the job right!!
Let hope the proposed change will ensure that the accounts are completed on time and do not continue as they are now 3-4 years behind.
CUT the Civil Service by 25 to 30% and see the huge difference in Government’s expenditures. Let’s go back to the days of the later most Honorable Thoms Jefferson (not the UDP appointed nephew XXXX Kenneth Jefferson) who ran this country and we never had the problems encountered today. Let’s do a few things:
1. UDP back benchers mover across the isle of the LA and form a new Government,
2. XXXXX,
3. Re-vamp the Treasury department to function like the old days as they have too many people who knows less about finances than the ordinary man on the street,
4. Retire CS that is over 50 yrs or with 25 years of public service cause they cannot adapt to change or cannot offer any new ideas,
5. Centralise the Human Resources department and Finance Departments like in the old days,
6. Amalgamate and elliminate dapartments and units cause more frustrations that ever before, e.g. FOI and OCC can be one department because right now they have a similar function, helping the public learn more about the civil service; PORTS; we are the only small island that still have the Air and Sea ports under different management. Can you believe that we are wasting precious resources like this. OMG where have all the good leaders gone and will there every be a forward thinking bunch of business men handling the good ship CAYMAN again?
7. XXXXX
8. Do we really need any more Indecisiveness? What about the Governor sitting down with his advisors (the elected members of cabinet) and the one and only Donny Ebanks and have them to understand that while they maybe the his advisors they are FAR OFF BEAT and thinks must get better now or he will give them a good old fashion belting and send them in a corner to cry for the remaining term.
Lastly, Cayman Islands is on a course to strike a reef, please Leaders and friends lets not make this ship run -a- shore. CAYMANIANS do not have any other country to turn to so wake up leaders and chart another course. The waves are getting bigger and the water more shallow let stop this ship Cayman and turn her around. Get rid of the unnecessary ballast and crew and lets make new sails and give her engines a good servicing and put more qualified master mariners at the helm so that the new course can be achieved.
Gold Bless and keep our country the place of my forefathers and my birth.
Rolston is right on this one. It would take maturity and common sense to get the election date switched back to November, so we’d better go with Plan B.
OK Mac – everything will be fine – all you need to do is change the law so that the current fiscal year does not end for another 269 years, 17 months and 96 days. That way you will never need to figure out how to balance the budget or even how to read one.
Lets face it, the only reason any of these idiotic changes to our laws are taking place is because the man at the top has not got a clue what he is doing and is making bad decision after bad decision.
I do not support any political party but I believe that Rolston is a good guy. Unfortunately when the UDP put him out front to try to provide excuses for the total incompetence of our Premier and our leader’s absense of appropriate concern for the Caymanian people, all it does is make poor Rolston look foolish.
So, let me see if I recall the reason why the election was held in May 2005 originally. Hurricane Ivan. What happens if we have another "incident" that makes a May election impossible? Switch the financial year to suit the new election date?
Just asking.
Another classic UDP greed situation. They got 5 extra months and would not give equal to PPM or opt to take 5 less. No they actually wanted PPM to cut theirs short. WOW. Classic Big Mac leadership GREED GREED and more GREED.
I am just praying that we will survive this 4 year term and not be totally unfixable after.
I mean I don’t like either party but can anyone tell me when we have seen a more indecisive government? How many things has this man put on the table only to take down? I never knew what it felt like to be a yo yo until he took over and let me make this clear this is coming from a man that was in the pass EXTREMELY decisive. Basically what he said went.
Now here we have another pile of crap being put forward. He’s so afraid of CS that now he’s going to do a payroll tax and allow the CIG to remain the way it is. Why because he’s afraid to loose his seat in 2012. You see this way he appeases CS who wants us all to take the bill for their incompetence. They can not attain a high performance level so we pay for it.
I think we all need to stand up and say NO. Not until you do the necessary cuts. Cut the CS and expenses then let’s start talking about it after the fact to see what else we need to do. I’m getting tired of our lame politicians. Grow some @#@ and do what needs to be done.
I’ll say it again as it might have been missed the first time. This writer is correct. The Premier is full of "FEAR" and therefore hisagenda is (knee jerk) re-active rather than proactive.
What a mess McKeeva is going to make out of this unfortunate situation. I truly find it remarkable, and frightening, that so few people could call a nation to its knees simply by putting "pencil to paper" in a small booth on a beautiful day in May 2009.
To Dred, I agree with you 100%!
McKeeva Bush & the UDP have always tried to portray Kurt Tibbetts as indecisive, but I have never seen a leader more indecisive than Mr. Bush has been since May 2009. I cannot ever recall hearing Mr. Tibbetts telling the people that he was going to do something (in government) & then have to reverse it a few days later. I request CNS to investigate how many times in the last 11 months that Mr. Bush has publicly told the Cayman people that he was introducing something or doing something but have to come back to the public a few days later with his tail between his legs in embarrassment & change his mind! (in fact don’t bother CNS, it will take too much of your time because he has done it so often).
Two days ago McKeeva Bush told the people that he was planning to introduce V.A.T ("of all the taxes that is the one that I would most support" he said, or words similar to that). Once again, most embarrassingly for him, today he told News 27 that V.A.T is the tax that he least supports! Is something wrong with this man? Talk about indecisive.
I also read on the front page of a local paper today that he is now thinking about introducing payroll tax. This is another of his "proposals without thinking" that he will have to come back to the public in a few days to change, because if he thinks he has had people unrest in the past just let him wait & see the public protests if he goes ahead with that stupid plan. People are not going to sit down & accept having more money taken out of their pay. We are already complaining about having to take out insurance & pension, so just think about the uproar if more is taken out by government!
Flip-flop! Yes, McKeeva Bush is very indecisive! I wonder if the rest of the UDP are happy, because it also makes tham look stupid, a bunch of dim-wits!
I agree with everything you said BORN FREE, except you support V.A.T that is just as bad as an income tax but in a different form. Example: you see a Blackberry for $499.00 and you pick it up and go to the counter, now guess what,.. it’s now going to cost ya $528.94 this is done at 6%, adding $29.94 to the regular price, but in the U.S it’s around 7%, so I’m being kind to ya. So in all areas Cayman is to fragile for any form of taxation, if we had been using a tax system from the 70’s it would be ok today, but we would still be looking for some form of a tax cut, that’s for sure, due to the recession.Oh, yes the Blackberry my friend would have cost ya $533.93 if I had done it at 7%. adding $34.93 to the regular price. V.A.T is not as good as you think it is my friend.
Hi Live Free, I’m sorry if I gave that impression but I do not support V.A.T., I was quoting McKeeva Bush. I’m definitely against V.A.T. & I cannot read where I said I do. I was saying that Mr. Bush one day said that of all the taxes he would support V.A.T., yet a mere 2 days later he did a complete 360 & said that of all the taxes V.A.T. would be the last he would introduce! I said that once again he had to do a public reversal & embarrassingly change his mind, but I do not think that I said I support V.A.T. or any form of income or payroll tax. I do not!
I’m sorry about that Born Free, I read your post again and you was only quoting what Mr. Bush said in one of his articles, and I also read the article when Mr. Bush said that he have no choice than to put some form of tax in place and that he supported V.A.T. And now he wants to put in place income tax, he is very confusing, the Island is spinning like a yo-yo. By the way you always post and make good points, I 100% agree with the post I replied to earlier. Thanks, sometimes I miss read, but usually correct in my replies.
Get a room you two.
To Live Free, please go back & read what Born Free says. He/she quotes Mckeeva Bush as saying VAT. It reads "(‘of all the taxes that is the one I would most support’ he said, or words similar to that)." Born Free was quoting what Mc Bush said, & was not saying that he/she, Born Free, supports VAT. Please go back & read carefully.
I did read it again, and I see where I miss understood the quote, thanks Anon 21:07.
Why not just do the right thing and bring forward the election date to November. The UDP already benifitted from the extra six months in Power due to Hurricane IVAN therefore the ones to correct the problem is the UDP.
My guess however is that under a Dictator type Premier this will never happen. It is so sad that power hungry Politicians with a Dictatorial mentality will do anything to hang on to power as long as possible.
Rolston, you look like a decent politician. Why dont you encourage your Party to correct the ills they hang on to?
In response to Anon 09:40, I support changing the election date to November. I wonder if everyone remembers the UDP & their supporters demanding that the PPM cut their term in government by 6 months & hold the elections in November 2008. I wonder what has brought about their change of heart!
With the UDP now becoming the most unpopular government in history, I would suggest to them that they have a talk with the Governor about changing the election date. They felt it was the right thing for the PPM to do, so let us see if they honestly felt that was the correct thing to do or if they were only playing politics. What a bag of hypocrites!
The PMFL law restricted us from borrowing when we needed the bail out! So it taught us accountability. Nevertheless, this law… needs to be amended for emergency situations. We shouldn’t limit government from helping its own economy. So to amend and change the PMFL law for the better, is crucial
To Anon Fri. 04/30/2010 – 09:25 all I have to say is Hahahahahahahahahohohohohohahahahaha LMAO! That was hilarious.