Archive for May, 2010
PPM calls for vote on 20% cut
(CNS): Leader of the Opposition Kurt Tibbetts says that the PPM will be moving a motion at the Legislative Assembly’s Finance Committee when it meets to review the 2010/11 budget that all MLAs accept a 20% pay cut and a 30% cut for the premier, as McKeeva Bush had originally proposed in March. Following the recent revelation by the premier that his own party was only prepared to take a 3.2% cut and accusations that opposition members were not willing to accept it, Kurt Tibbetts told CNS on Thursday afternoon that the PPM would ask the elected members of the House to vote in favour of the original larger cut to show the country that they were all willing to make sacrifices.
Brokers proffer market ideas
The article “Brokers proffer market ideas”, to be found in the Cayman Net News (21st May), presents some good and some bad thinking. With no disrespect to the leading real estate brokers quoted, I am afraid that they may be missing something of the bigger picture.
For experts to say that “talk of taxation” must be taken off the table and in the same breath to say that the airport must be extended to accommodate direct flights from Europe encapsulates flawed thinking. They might also have added to the wish list sorting out the potentially disastrous waste (mis)management crisis before it happens and really adversely impacts prime real estate values along the Seven Mile Beach.
We cannot keep calling for expensive infrastructure projects and other things that “Government must provide” unless we are prepared to pay for them. To do otherwise is to bury our heads in the sand. And it is the obligation of all to contribute fairly to the essential infrastructure and services that everyone, local and foreign, needs and reasonably expects.
There is a wealth of learning (even from the libertarian right) that public revenue generated from real estate can be fair, efficient to collect and sustainable in the long term. I believe a correctly structured and acceptably priced community service charge (CSC) levied on property (administered by the Land Registry) and dedicated to infrastructure, waste management, police, emergency etc services (with appropriate exemptions, bandings and transition provisions and a competitive reduction in upfront stamp duty) is perfectly sensible and appropriate for Cayman. And it should apply to all owners (local and foreign) as all benefit from the better infrastructure and services, and property values should increase as a result.
To those who argue that any CSC would spell the end of Cayman as we know it, I would ask them to think back to the “good old days” (maybe before they themselves arrived in Cayman) and what they would have said when stamp duty on real estate transactions was first introduced and Cadastral survey teams registered all land titles. There were many at the time who said all was lost (Caymanians were ready to march against the Land Registration and Adjudication Laws and related legislation) and that no-one would ever invest in real estate here. History has proved those naysayers mightily wrong.
The CSC proposal requires important sectors of our community to recognise the merits of the suggestion, rather than dismissing it out of hand. So I would challenge the real estate industry to apply its undoubted expertise towards developing a fair, workable and marketable CSC (and revamped stamp duty regime) that is forthe long term benefit of all.
Immigration test run coming
(CNS): The new accreditation system, which will require businesses trading in the Cayman Islands to reach certain criteria before they can apply for work permits, will be rolled out as a test project to the financial service industry within the next few weeks. Sherri Bodden-Cowan, chair of the Immigration Review Team, told Chamber members yesterday that ten volunteer firms were already using the self-assessment tool and helping iron out problems with the new system that will eventually be rolled out across the entire commercial sector. Designed to streamline the way work permits, key employee and immigration issues are handled, the goal is to address the continued criticism from the business community over the crucial issue of immigration.
Cayman signs tax deal with Germany
(CNS): The Cayman Islands government has entered into its 18th Tax information Exchange Agreement. The deal was signed in George Town today, Thursday 27 May with Germany. The signing ceremony was held at the GIS Conference Room and was hosted by the premier, McKeeva Bush who signed the agreement on behalf of Cayman. Germany’s Ambassador to Jamaica, Jürgen Engel, signed the agreement on behalf of Germany. Bush said the agreement was a milestone in the countries’ relationship not least because of the presence of a number of leading German financial institutions in the jurisdiction.
Internet search engine gets pride and profits back
(Reuters): Yahoo Inc said it could return to double-digit revenue growth in the next few years, as the Internet pioneer revamps its network of websites to attract users and advertisers in a shifting Internet industry. Yahoo told analystsWednesday that its net revenue growth between 2011 and 2013 would average between 7 and 10 percent as opposed to the roughly 13 percent revenue decline that it experienced in 2009. "Yahoo has its focus. It is excited about its future and it has its pride back," Chief Executive Carol Bartz said. Yahoo claims more than 600 million global users and plans to add more social media, video and local content to its properties as a way of growing its revenues.
Brac DoE “hero” accepts lifesaving device
(CNS): The Department of Environment Marine Unit on the Sister Islands has received an automated external defibrillator (AED) machine from the Cayman Heart Fund. Presenting the life saving devise to Marine Parks Enforcement Officer Erbin Tibbetts, CHF Chairman Suzy Soto recounted an episode in her own life that demonstrated what she described as the compassion, reliability, and fearless determination of Tibbetts and Customs Officer Tate McFarlane, which she said was typical of Cayman Brackers. While in Little Cayman Soto was taken to the health clinic with heart problems, she recalled. (Left: CHF Chair Suzy Soto and Marine Officer Erbin Tibbetts)
However, there was a bad storm and Captain Kris Bergstrom of Cayman Airways and Marcus Cumber of Island Air spent the night trying to get a plane to fly over to pick her up, but no flights were allowed into Little Cayman at night due to the flight risks. The situation was relayed to Erbin Tibbetts and Customs Officer Tate McFarlane, who were on the Brac, and they were told she needed to get to the Brac Hospital as soon as possible, Soto said.
Despite the danger they faced themselves, the decided to make the journey in the DoE boat between the Sister Islands.
"As they most often do, they set out, picked up the patient, turned back to the Brac through the storm and rough seas. As fate would have it, the prop fell off in thousands of feet of water. However, prepared with a spare prop, they put it on and continued the journey arriving in the Brac at 6:00 am,” Soto recalled. She said she made it safely to the Brac, along with Paramedic Andrew Barron and her husband, Bob Soto, on board.
Soto said how happy she was to present to Tibbetts, the hero of her story, the AED as a gift from the Board of Directors of the Cayman Heart Fund and hoped it would save more lives.
Cayman takes aim at bikini parade record
(CNS): In an effort to raise cash and awareness the Cayman Islands Amateur Swimming Association’s (CIASA) is organizing a bikini parade and hopes to create a new world record. The Guinness World Record attempt will take place on 17 June when hundreds of Bikini-clad folk will gather for a one-mile parade along Seven Mile Beach, starting at Tiki Beach Bar at 5:45pm. Signing on as co-sponsor, dms Broadcasting station X107.1 said it would be helping drum up support to put Cayman on the bikini map.
Gibraltar could benefit from new hedge fund rules
(City AM): The Alternative Investment Fund Managers directive which will make it harder for non-EU funds to market themselves to European investors could offer an opportunity for Gibraltar which is looking to grow as an international destination for hedge funds. As the prospect of tighter regulation makes more exotic jurisdictions, such as the Cayman Islands appear less attractive, senior figures said the British territory, which is part of the European Union, could benefit. Funds based in Gibraltar are regulated in line with those in Dublin and Luxembourg, meaning they will be automatically “passported” to customers on the continent.
Climate fears turn to doubts in Britain
(New York Times): Last month hundreds of environmental activists crammed into an auditorium in London to ponder an anguished question: If the scientific consensus on climate change has not changed, why have so many people turned away from the idea that human activity is warming the planet? Nowhere has this shift in public opinion been more striking than in the UK where climate change was until this year such a popular priority that in 2008 Parliament enshrined targets for emissions cuts as national law. But since then, the country has evolved into a home base for a thriving group of climate sceptics who have dominated news reports in recent months, apparently convincing many that the threat of warming is vastly exaggerated.
East End MLA says Premier is lying over pay cut
(CNS): The political representative for East End has hit out at the premier and called him liar in connection with the retreat over MLAs’ salaries. PPM member Arden McLean told CNS that the opposition benches were never consulted over the proposed 20% pay cut for politicians and they had certainly never rejected it. He denied the premier’s accusation that he had ever indicated that he or his PPM colleagues were not willing to accept the proposed reduction in salaries or said anything about only being willing to take the same 3.2% cut in line with other public sector workers. That rejection, McLean said, came from the UDP’s own MLAs and it was time the people of Cayman began weeding the lies from the truth.