CS still crunching new budget
(CNS): The UK economist visiting Cayman for the last three weeks to assist in the preparation of a budget left on Saturday, but the budget is still not complete. A spokesperson for the governor’s office confirmed Monday that a revised budget has not been submitted to the UK for approval. He stated that meetings are taking place with civil servants and ministers this week and the conversation is also continuing with the UK about the Cayman Islands government’s spending plans for the next fiscal year. The premier, who is also minister of finance, was responsible for submitting a budget that had UK approval to the Legislative Assembly before the fiscal year end but, since the UK rejected his last minute spending plans, he failed to do so.
Premier McKeeva Bush was then forced to bring an emergency government motion for a stop-gap budget, which ends on 31 August.
The governor’s office said it hopes the revised budget will be with the FCO sometime next week in order to give officials there time to review and approve the proposal before it comes back to the Cayman Islands to be presented at the Legislative Assembly and scrutinized in Finance Committee.
The governor has not yet delivered his traditional Throne Speech, and although the LA session for this parliamentary year opened in June, it did so without the usual pomp and circumstance as government had no budget to present.
Although the government has not revealed how it intends to balance the budget and submit a spending plan with no borrowing which also produces a surplus, Bush has toyed with the idea of raising liquor licenses and cutting some public services but he has stated that no public sector jobs will be lost. The recruitment freeze, however, is still in place.
The most recent minutes from the deputy governor’s office indicated that all senior civil servants were being asked to consider any possible cost saving measures to help balance the public books.
Bush had attempted to submit a budget to the UK which, although had a small operating surplus, contained both a short term loan, namely an overdraft facility of up to $28 million, and a long term borrowing requirement of a further $59 million. As minister of finance, the premier was well aware that the UK was expecting a surplus budget this year with no borrowing as he had said on numerous occasions that his government was not going to increase the country’s debt burden.
As a result, Bush was forced to bring in an interim spending plan of $127 million of appropriations for July and August to give him and his government time to come up with a new budget in which operating expenses have been reduced.
Category: Politics
I listened to Alden McLaughlin this morning on Rooster 101 and I am shock that he state on air he "spent out of style" whilst he was in office. I have to wonder why he publicly admitted such a fault of mismanagement when we're on the brink of getting taxed by the UK? He should have publicly declared this long ago! Ha. the UDP will just record his words and use it against him watch and see
Alden dont' think. I heard it too. But that is the kind of leader that is looking to get reelected.
If you go ontheir site, Rooster 101.1, there should be a recording of this mornings talks. I would like to hear too what he said. It wouldn't surprise me that UDP will be blaming his party for the economic downturn. However, when Kurt and Alden had their turn in 2008, they were spending as if the following year was able to pay for it. I think the global recession at the time was to also blame.
It's at least possible McLaughlin learned from the experience. It is clear that Bush never learns.
What do you expect?
What business training or experience does he or others have?
Our greatest problem is that we elect people to office who have no real world experience in running an operation. Because you can go to court and argue a case as a lawyer , does tht make you a good leader or businessman?
And was'nt Marco the chief project manager for Government's failed accounting system? Now it seems he is a politician too.
Folks lets get real.
Our strenght in the past was that we elected proven leaders who had worldwide experiences and skills in business. But we now have persons who have no track record but WANABEES.
How can you balance something that you do not have? People, there is no budget to balance. The budget has disappeared.
Yeah, it flew out the plane window on one of those many expensive world travels.
I wish McKeeva the best because we know what he had to go through to get us somewhere. This is a lesson for all of us including those who oppose him.
The problem is he's gotten us more to nowhere than we were before.
Get us somewhere??? HE got us here, right here where we are right now, him, UDP, PPM, and all the people that keep voting them back in !
Breaking News!!!!!UK cayman budget documents!!!!
Sorry guys for no getting back to you early on..Here it Goes…Government and the Uk are working extra hard to get the budget Pass…Minutes release..
Civil Services spending is soaring,and debt is piling up at more than 1/2 billion dollars a year.Official projections show rivers of red ink for years to come unless policymakers enact major budget reforms.Unless spending is cut,the Cayman Islands is headed for economic ruin.
The results of the 2009 elections made clear that caymanians want an end to the spending spree in the islands.People fear that today's spendthrift policies may lead to Uk tax increases and a lower standard of living for themself and their children.The Public has given The UDP marching orders for this Budget to start cutting spending and rein in Debt.
The UDP government is going to implement an emergency plan of cuts to the civil services,domestic,and entitlement programs.This essay proposes spending cuts of more than $1 billion anually by 2018,which would balance the budget without resorting to damaging UK tax increases.Civil services spending would be reduced to 18.0 percent of gross domestic product by 2018 under the UDP plan,which compares to UDP government spending this year of 13 percent of GDP.
The reality that the Cayman Islands faces a fiscal emergency,and we need to cut millions of dollars of "meat" from government departments,not just obvious"fat."If the activities to be cut are useful to society,then private groups should fund them,and those entities would probably be more efficient at doing so.
Tomorrow i will declassified Spending Cut Details.
i just discovered how to balance a budget, place it between your two horns and viola! (:))>
As usual they got it all wrong again, they are focusing on the wrong areas such as vehicles which are so small a percentage that it is hardly worth the effort. How fickle can they get.
They should be focusing on more important areas of expenditure, such as where are the 80% of the wastage occuring which is how business people think, not on fickleness.This reminds me of the bright idea ofthe former DG whose solution was to change the stationary from legal size to letter size to save floor space LOL. How much did that realise?
16:33 you failed to say that the former DG also had his beef with the petty business of vehicles. How do they expect government to operate, I suppose using rick-shaws ?
Seems like MICROMANAGEMENT as usual.
I understand that because of this budget fiasco, the entire governemnt delegation and all of their guests will not be attending the London Olympics. Sad since the money for air fare, hotels, ground transportation and tickets has already been spent and will be lost. Yet another black mark on this joke of a government.
You sounds as if you think they should go since the tickets are paid for. Perhaps you would like to pay for all the London hotel rooms at approx 200 ponds per night.!!??
All these expenses have been pre-paid.
Correct me if I am wrong, but without auditable bookkeeping, isn't this budget stuff a waste of time?
That's right. That's the reason we dont have a budget. You can't possibly do a budget if you don't know where the money was spent in the past.
Here is the stark difference:
UK = Budget that means HUGE CUTS
UDP = Budget that means HUGE DEALS
One is for conservative cuts to spending that will make matters more heavier.
And UDP is for creating revenue, making dollars that will help the smaller businesses to thrive.
May I add, UDP is the first administration to progress on the new port. The issue has been ignored for years by previous governments. UDP is trying with CHEC to get this port up and going. So we may not have the budget that the UK want to see, but we will have a budget that will show more revenue if Opposition does not stop him and these deals from coming to fruition.
Don't be idiotic. PPM with Charles Clifford reached very far before UDP took power and immediately scrapped their plans.
I understand that because of this budget mess, the entire CI government delegation, and their guests, will not be attending the London Olympics. Sad, since their entire trip has been paid for and the money will be lost. Another bit of fallout from this farce of a government
If I was to make pizza without cheese, but you, some chef from uk, told me I can't buy cheese or borrow cheese, I must make pizza out of dough, pepperoni, and sauce, and I must deliver, bake, make the pizzas with a smaller crew, I will look at you in the face like Macky and hand you that menu for you to do it yourself. You don't want to accept my budget, but want me to implement arbitrary measures on the public, ok then, here, do it yourself, be my guest.
lol
Mac just being Mac!
That's a dumb analogy. Just work with the ingredients you have not what you don't have!
problem is the workers have been secretly eating all the cheese beofre it is on the pizza, and now there is no cheese left and all the workers are obese
It is clear that the U.K. will not stop short of introduction of taxes. They see this as the only sustainable form of revenue. I think our Premier should just grab the bull by the horns and do it. Payroll tax is the fairest and in order to not put tooo much strain on those who are already having a difficult time making ends meet, just start the tax at say, incomes of $100,000 p.a. and above. Believe me that would take care of much of our problem. Most of the high-flying lawyers, accountants, partners etc. would fall in that category. Caymanians and expats alike. Mr. Bush, I think you're just going to have to do it so that going forward you won't have this same problem all over again. We will support you sir. You have to do, what you have to do. Blessings.
Let this is a valuable lesson to be learnt by government and governments to come. You can't spend so much that there is an $81 or more million deficit and 3 buildings at $100 million each, plus roads and other buildings and sundries which the government must borrow to pay for, where there were 1072 new civil service staff in four years (2005 to 2009) where were brough in despite declining revenue. Boy we are learning our lesson with the UK controlling our budget.
The buildings are all capital outlays and so are not the problem, governments have to borrow money to build long term infrastructure, and should do so as the use of these assets will be for years, not just this year.
It is the spending on travel, the largest civil service to population in the world outside of communist states, paying off settlements from ignoring tender process, stealing fuel through gasboy cards, paving prviate driveways,etc that is the problem
Every new government hopes to be handed a fish when they take over. What the PPM handed us was a heavy weight around our necks, a massive debt of millions of dollars unaccounted for, along with the huge ongoing cost burden of the unfinished schools and other over ambitious projects. The results from UDPs hard labor over the last 3 years, the turn-around they have accomplished, should have been enough to take us over until the higher revenue period at the end of this year.
But that option was blocked, because we had been put, for the first time in the history of these Cayman Islands, outside of the agreed ratios, by the PPMs excessive and wasteful spending, and by their refusal to pay any attention the country's balance sheet. So now, we must not only find ways to repair our finances like deal with Dart, and protect our independence and the future of our islands, we must also do this while being subject to the UK plan, which is not based on development urgencies of these islands, but based on a draconian philosophy of cutting civil servants and more cuts that will make matters worse and the heavy stone around our necks heavier.
What PPM did was instead of handed us a fish to eat, they handed us a snake, because they wanted to get reelected and continued with the projects despite McKeeva Bush forewarning them of the coming recession. People need to understand these facts. The more they do, is the more they will see that if nothing is done now, the future of our children will be mortgaged.
I hope the MLAs are willing to take double the cut as the civil servants, after all, it was the politicians' decisions that got us into this mess
May 2001 – May 2005 – UDP party reign
Hurricane Ivan hurts economy in September 2004
May 2005 – May 2009 – PPM party reign
Hurricane Paloma hurts Brac's economy
Big spending takes place as Global Recession hurt economy
May 2009 – May 2013 – UDP reign
Big spending awakens the UK to enforce the PMFL law and borrowing restrictions on government. UDP blames PPM for the UK's response
May 2013 – May 2017 – prediction – PPM party reign
PPM party blames UDP party for prolonging recovery and wasting time.
And on and on and on and on…. I hope Cayman is seeing the trend.
Don't worry about them, if they want you to cut the living day lights out of Caymanians, let them do it on their own. Stay out of it Mac!
The writing is on the wall. Mark these words, unless these fools do the right thing and implement real austerity measures and balance the budget, no matter the political consequences, the British Government is going to insist on direct taxation. And that my friends will be all she wrote for Cayman. London (and it’s ally the US) has been for years trying to find way to deal with this pesky offshore financial centre. And now, thanks to these morons, they have us right where they wanted us all along, literally between the Devil and the Deep Blue Caribbean Sea.
You are so right the government needs to implement practical measures to balance the budget for one they need to reign in spending. One way to do this is to cut the civil service and as painful as it will be it has to be done. First they can start to eliminate the jobs held by work permit holders that can be done by able body Caymanians getting a cheque and having their rents paid by social service department let the Caymanians that receive this free monies work for their up keep. Make the civil service a lean and functional organisation as it was from 1970 to 1990 it has become top heavy with political appointments. If the civil service was cut of even 50% of the work force of non essential personnel there would be a big reduction in government expenses. Stop giving rich investors who don't have to pay taxes these big development breaks not having to pay direct taxation should be enough incentive. Stop paying seamen pension to some of the undeserving foreign wives who were not even married to the Caymanian man when he went to sea. The economy of the Cayman Islands are in the last stages of its glory days we need to awaken for this dream and face reality the glory days are over. The financial industry is no longer the golden child there is stiff competition and major countries are begining to clawback their monies. Cayman's problem now is finding a way to service its economy that is service based. Tourism is down, the financial industry is in decline yet our spending is up, people there is something wrong with the system. We must reign in spending. The hard cold truth of the matter is we don't have the money. We just cannot print as much money as we need not even the great first world countries can without running into trouble.
The UK places on the Cayman Islands government BORROWING restrictions, which prevented McKeeva's government from borrowing from lenders to stimulate the economy by creating revenue, Thanks to PPM's screw up! That is why Bush was forced to bring in an interim spending plan of $127 million. More years to come in order to get us back on track.
McKeeva, we know they want us to be taxed, and not only taxed financially, but taxed emotionally and physically to drain us. You keep playing chess with them, because we know you are a good chess player that will see to the Shetty Hospital being built, which will provide us with jobs. Clear the land and play your chess, Cayman has been tired and worn out by the fiscal madness from way before you was elected.
@9:08 – I think McKeeva has every reason to be reluctant not to cut the Civil Service and not balance a budget after he has requested borrowing for useful spending and got negative response. I just have to wonder if you any interest here like assets, because I sure do know that cutting police officers, could very well mean these assets subject to criminal loss. This has more to do with gettting reelected. No sensible man would want to see his country fall deeper in crime!
For all of you that are claiming that the PPM left such a huge deficit, can you please ask the UDP (the current government) to please have the 2008-2009 budget audited so we can for once have proof of these claims. I am sure that the UDP dont want those statements completed so close to and election.
What are you talking about! It is too late for auditing. PPM did contributed. How much? Right now do you think many of us visiting site care! We are soon to be taxed and you talking about an audit to defend your party!
We would never have been in this situation with it was not for the hard work of PPM putting us into uncertainty and UDP into more uncertainty. I hope people dont vote for PPM or UDP next years election.
TCI here we come!
I fail to see how anyone can prepare a budget when so many public entities are failing to submit audited accounts for periods going back anything up to 5-6 years ago.
A budget is (or should be?) based on previous expenditure patterns. To try and produce one without historical data is like picking numbers out of thin air.
And if I can make that comment you can bet the FCO and the UK Government are way ahead of me.
MB hang in there. Don't let them fool ya or try to school ya!
The only one tryin to fool and school is MB. Only trouble is he aint foolin or schoolin most of us – just the odd idiot like your good self 🙂
yeah, great advice. don't let em fool ya. No, don't ever learn anything new. you were born a perfectly formed genious!
Congratulations :o)
In writing "MB hang in there" you have submitted the only advice Bush is ever likely to heed. Now, if you just had some advice for him on the economy, we might all have something to be happy about.
Has bush got the balls to debate the budget on the television. He can bring along all his mates although being the minister of finance he will not really need them. Answer NO. The public should demand it and Bo will make mincemeat of them. The alleged minister of finance is a complete failure and an embarrassment to the Cayman Islands. Never in our history have we called upon the UK to help us shuffle the figures around. More interestingly as I pointed out before, without past accurate audited figures how can you compose an accurate budget? You cannot. You just get in inaccurate budget similarly to those in the past three years. This fact is supported by the Auditor General whom I hope is still with us!
This is not difficult to understand and I beg all readers to give this topic a little more thought.
By the way mr bush debit is nearest the window, or at least it used to be, before creative accounting came along.
Really not much point is trying to school him.
what business sense?
are you out of your mind, i would not want bush to run any business for me. If that ever happend the business would fail real quick. You are so disiilusioned it is not even funny, i pity you
May I first suggest that it is clear that the civil service by way of precedent will be called on to sort the budget by way of reductions in salary. I do believe in mutual sacrific for the betterment with all hands on deck pulling on the weight of the associated burden. So therefore and firstly, I disagree that a general overall reduction in salary that I expect be proposed by a few with the goal of self preservation front in mind. Rather, I suggest that those who have been declared leaders now take the full consequence of their missteps and now operate at "only expense":expense defined as the cost to house, eat and feed themselves and their family.
While senior position is held, given-earned -granted, the power is delegated by the people and a fairer system should be proposed, less the labourers take into their accord action fitting. So I may I gently suggest, with a goodly amount of warning, that the labourers (educators, postal workers, court workers, police officers) have been toiled into such a state of temperament, as to afflict the elite and upper cast of the government/civil service such a blow as to render the country in its entirety without commission.
So fair warning is that: by example you must lead and your dedication to country must come before your own goals.
Politics should be reserved for gentlemen of means not a mean to financial gains.
With reference to certain senior civil servants sculpting the political agenda, may you know that your brethern have firmer hold of your hand than you do now the spoon . Completing on the subject of means, in interest of fairness, may this be tested in accordance with any cuts you might suggest to perform.
Cayman Pen Man
Well its time to pay the piper Cayman all these foreign police officers from Jamaica and the UK and from where ever need to be cut, with nearly 500 police officers this is absolutely ridiculous and should have never been allowed to happen This little Surge like the one in war torn Afghanistan has now virtually put us in bankuruptcy Quality not quantity should have been our strategy instead of seeking the advice of persons who's loyalty was clearly to their own people and certainly not Cayman's The government itself needs to make the necessary cuts to all its foreign staff it has employed.Simply put we cannot afford it any longer.
Who is the head of the Police Service? The Commissioner of Police who is from the UK. Who does the Commissioner of Police answer to? The Governor who is from the UK. So how in the hell is Local Government suppose to cut them off from our revenue sources??? Premier Bush cant do it. He can cut everyone else, but the Police is the UK's hold of power over Cayman. They will not reduce their hold
Simply put the Government / CS need to be cut in size & the government employees (every single on of them) needs to pay to pay their way in regards to health insurance & pensions.
I still do not understand why I as a Caymanian in the private sector must pay for those working in the civil service for their health insurance in full (especially when a large majority do not look after their health) but I have to pay for fifty percent of my health insurance, why I have to pay for half my pension plus the full pension of civil service workers and why since 2008 I have been on a wage freeze and training freeze and civil service gets merit increases and seems never to be at their jobs but off on some sort of training or another.
Why do I have to carry their weight and then when using the services provided take their bad attitudes and disrespect and lack of professionalism?
Solutions – level the playing field my votes count as much as theirs so
They have to cover 50% of their health insurance (and by the way review the benefits and make sure it is reasonable and not overly giving of they want a higher tiered plan they should pay for it).
They have to pay 5% of their pension.
Legalize casinos and if you do not want locals in then simply keep us out by requiring an ID be provided that is not local and “tax” it.
Create a national lottery such as the one used in New York or California ” and tax the winnings plus get the profits for government to be spent on education and infrastructure only.
Legalize ganja in a similar way that it is in Amsterdam only ensure again that offshore IDmist be shown and tax it to pay for prisons and police and social services.
Let the hospital and Dart project go through
Make salaries for key civil service managers and MLA tied to KPI’s
Result surplus in budget, level playing field for the disenfranchised private sector Caymanians who have been carrying the burden for way too long
REQUIRE not ask department heads to move their departments in to the government building, seriously the Department of Labour and Pensions went in to a privately owned building AFTER completion of the Government building which means they can’t use an oh we can’t break our lease as an excuse
You right there skippa it is "riddicklus" it appears to be even deliberately design to drain our economy for 55,0000 people its totally unnecessary and the people including our politicians who approve this outrageous spending to cover their own BS should be held accountable. Tell you what, we could not dream of doing what they are doing here in either the UK or Jamaica thats for sure.
Well said.
Cut the foreignors first.
This could actually drag on for years, given the government's penchant for talk instead of action. It would not surprise me one bit if we're still living off overdraft and talking about the missing 2012 budget in 2015. That would suit most of our politicians perfectly, since all they really want is to be able to feather their own nests and give away government money to their friends and family without oversight or accountability.
10% cut in civil service expenditure/salaries. Job done.
it's what the private sector has had to do…..
Depends where your starting point is for the 10%…..those on high salaries can take a hit without it hurting too much, but people on lower salaries are already stretched….the public sector tends to have higher salaries than the civil service….especially in the financial sector. 10% salary cuts will effect the economy greatly, as so many civil servants actually keep their salaries on Island….they spend here…
this mentality is the biggest problem………
And pay 50% of their medical insurance and 100% of their gas like folks in the real world do.
20% for the politicians.
Yeah, just like all those bankers that caused this financial crisis in the first place.
It issaid McKeeva is Ignorant – McKeeva is Uneducated – McKeeva is Arrogant – McKeeva is a whannabee political leader – McKeeva is lower than my dog who could do a better job of running this country…. but the problem I find, out of all the 15 MLAs – Who can take Big Macs place? Who is able to take on his inheritance? TELL ME WHO FROM THE 15 CAN DO A BETTER JOB??? WHO HAS BUSINESS SENSE LIKE MAC???
It is time to start looking outside the 15 MLA's.
Thank you!
The commenter is right. If Mac is the best one they have, then we need to sweep out the entire house!
Rolston Anglin is an accountant, an auditor. I would sure hope he could.
I dont think so. We are trying to stop Rollie from late night escapades, so the finance job would be too stressful and might cause a relapse. We could however make Mac become the Minister of Education, and put him in charge of the maths department…
I thought he was the strongman's hand puppet
Business sense??!!??
Why dont we refer to his many failures before suggesting Bush represents anything of quality.
I cant even believe someone might say or think he has "business sense". Its getting harder and harder to defend my own people..uggh.
Your question and point is cheap, as it seeks to mask the reality that we, the people of Cayman, can do better than a foolish, greedy dinosaur and his "2 party political gang".
Ahhhhh lets see, Kurt Tibbetts! :)) what????!!
People who understand business, understand the fundamental principle of being able to balance a budget, Mac does not.
People who understand business do not make deals and then breach the contract causing a country millions upon millions of dollars that it does not have, Mac does this constantly.
People who understand business listen to those around them with far more experience and take head of their suggestions, Mac does not because he actually thinks he knows everything when in actual fact he doesn't know how to tie his shoelace.
Not because he does not want to balance the budget. He wants to avoid Greece. He wants to avoid austere measures place on us. McKeeva keep up the good work and watch over us!
Oh Jesus Christ!
breach contract? which contract UDP breached that cost the country "millions upon millions of dollars"? And "Mac does this constantly"? Baffoon, before you make alarming exaggerated and inaccurate statements, at least post some links or mentions facts to educate you followers!
You been living unda a rock all this time, buddy, or wha?
Errrr…..what planet do you live on? With out going ito too much detail I will give you 3 examples of Mac costing this country…Cohen, GLF and Tom Jones…ring any bells moron?
Buffoon, when you start calling people names, pick ones that you can spell!
Well you are right about one thing. No one has business sense like MAC! But I think you may have forgotten that the man himself admitted he didn't know anything about finance, and I fear that without knowledge of finance it might be rather difficult to create a budget that makes any sense whatsoever, negotiate loans etc.
aha, another one who smoked the dynamite and blew up his head
BUSINESS SENSE?? Mac was not successful at anything until he got into politics. Do you think his gardening company was successful? And there is no evidence of any business sense as a politician either. He has political cunning and savvy. That is all.
My 9 year old could do a better job.
Moses Kirkconnell!!!!
Well you answered your own question – find the man with the dog ,
I won't even respond to his 'business sense' level, BUT I sure as hell wouldn't mind taking on "his inheritance"!
lol… i think he means the financial inheritance that was inherited from ppm government
actually, I will respond about his 'business sense' I will let some one else tally up all his project totals from his old banking days, turtlr farm etc. to his harbor fiasco payouts. Sadly, I don't know if there are any true-borns who are capable of running todays Cayman AND willing to step out of the private sector to do it.
On a more serious note, why does the name Moses Kirkconnell never emerge as a possible candidate for Premier or Minister of Finance in the 2013 government. He has a degree in Business/International Business & Economics – sounds a bit better than a few years at West Bay Primary – and some years of practical experience. Maybe he has no interest in the post, but it is nevertheless wrong to say that there is nobody out there better qualified than bush.
NOBODY, absolutely nobody in the whole entire world has business sense like Mac. And yet we have him running our country.
With Bush still trying to figure out how to eliminate the competition after the strong showing from the OMOV Referendum, he doesn't have the time necessary to focus on producing the budget. LOL! Good bye UDP!
There should be wording in the Constitution that states the Premier selects his own Cabinet members once he is elected. Make the members of Cabinet separate from the MLA and have it that they must be qualified for the ministry their in charge of. I think that would put aside the foreign office from having to intervine and bring down their experts. We have homegrown experts here, why not use them. But then again the Constitution we have forbids it.
lol…. don't you know if you attack the Constitution, you are attacking Alden McLaughlin!
Hmmm I wonder what will be next? FCO taking over?
I take my hat off and bow to the UK for showing a great interest in our financial affairs. And I also take my hat off and bow to the Premier for finally doing the most important thing needed in this island. Kudos Premier, good move! Every human being should pay their own health insurance or contribute something. This includes all civil servants. This was a long time coming. What was the Premier suppose to do when the UK prevents him from borrowing monies from credible lenders? A cut has to be made and he choose an option that would at least contribute back to the civil service. There is no objection that can be made against this move. I am sure the UK economist as well influenced his decision, but the Premier had the last say. Praise the Lord!
"Although the government has not revealed how it intends to balance the budget and submit a spending plan with no borrowing which also produces a surplus Bush has toyed with the idea of raising liquor licenses and cutting some public services but he has stated that no public sector jobs will be lost though the recruitment freeze is still in place." I GUESS ITS DART TO THE RESCUE, ISN'T MAC! APPARENTLY EVERYONE HAS REJECTED YOU. SO DART WILL BRING IN THE SURPLUS.
I dont know about you, but I want to be on the winning side that brings food on my table. So if the uk rejected Bush and not Dart, then I am happy to sit at his table. You dont have to come with me to camana bay if you despise them so much
You, Dart, and McKeeva, can pitch your blue tents elsewhere. Cayman dont need your helping hand. Ezzard and Alden can cough up as much funds. lol… harold, I agree with you 100%
Most of the Civil Servants have no problem with paying their fair share of health insurance premiums and pensions, but I think if they have to contribute to their health insurance then they should be given the choice of going to the doctor of their choice. Also I think that all those people who are drawing their pension and still holding on to their government jobs should be terminated. In Government as is also the case in the private sector, there are people who do not put in a full day's work, that should be monitored, and if justifiable then they should be released. There are also alot of folks on the social service dole, these cases should be investigated and rectified.
Another massive shipment of failure has arrived on-island for the Dishonourable MvFailva Bush…
I know what some are thinking. This is all coming from an incompetent leader and the way he is running our government. If you don't know by now who put this country in a poor state, then I'm sorry for you, you lack the same sort of judgement that our predecessors lacked. Well… it was 2008-2009. It was the beginning of a recession which stemmed from the United States, Credit crunch. Everyone knows that the PPM government was in at the time. Everyone knows that they were spending like there was "no tomorrow"? They emptied the public purse bankrupting the country [search the word bankrupt + cayman], and as a result the UK had to put the breaks on the winning UDP party leader Premier bush. This government inherited a national debt that most leaders would dodge by not even running for office for fear of being stigmatized by the PPM mess they left behind for Bush to cleanup! Even Mr. Truman Bodden Former LOGB who kept a surplus in the public purse dubbed the "Bill Clinton of the Cayman Islands" Even he stayed away from the political arena to evade inheriting the financial disgrace the PPM left behind in 2009; as he did not want to share the blame they are now pointing at the Premier. People, of course UDP party is not a perfect party, but I bet you with the shetty and the other project starting, they will leave a better legacy than the previous one that left us with a frank sound school that looks like a metropolis city. UDP was bogged down on reducing the cost of getting this school done. And still the next government after UDP will have to pay for it.
Go back to sleep Jr., you have clearly been living in a cave for the past 3yrs.
You are correct that when Mac began this term of office the country was in debtdue to the schools, but what you clearly ignore is the fact that the UDP have almost tripled that debt since taking over from the PPM and they have absolutely nothing to show for it, nothing.
Boy, someone's in the trough and the mud is so deep they are blinded by it. If you can get the mud out ya ears, listen to this. The crap you just said is a bunch of BS. When Mac was in the previous years, we had the Turtle Farm fiasco that we are still paying for. They doled out citizenship which increased even more demand on infrastructure such as schools, but added nothing more than a few prefab class rooms. Roads were deteriorating and congested and they knew not what to do. They bought property in West Bay at an over inflated price and instead of building a cruise berthing facility, built the Royal Watler Terminal at an inflated price (according to the Auditor General). Look around at what they did this time around – the Cohen deal; the GLF payoff just to name two and you are so proud of his failures! You may support them because you're obviously in the their trough, but anyone with any pride and integrity do not. And as there are many more of us with pride and integrity in this community, there will no doubt be a change in government come May next year. Now clear you eyes and stop talking crap.
Letsjust say that PPM turn on the faucet to fill a swimming pool – UDP instead of turning it off, cranked it up a little bit. Now we have a large water bill and who is going to pay?
Ok let me get this straight, Bush, you are the Minister of Finance. Ministers of Finance have a duty and obligation to complete a budget before the deadline. What sort games are you playing with the United Kingdom. The Civil Service has to lose weight, many should be laid off, it is surgical procedure, if you don't have the b#lls for the job, sir, you should resign. We cant forever be spending, spending, spending.
wow… its amazing that your hearing a PPMer talk about spending, spending, spending… so unusal. Tell me, when you lay off teachers, police officers, doctors, accountants and all manner of civil servants, how are you going to deal with the repercussions? I guess you must be from east end or north side ,well far away from crime
The only repercussions will be more civil servants raching for improved efficieny…….i.e more educated kids, less crime, more audited accounts, less concern about recruiting friends & family members from overseas for 'cushy' civil service jobs on contracts that can't be terminated/revoked and A GREAT OPPORTUNITY TO START SUSTAINABLE PLANNING OF RESOURCES & OPPORTUNITIES FOR ALL CITIZENS.
I would welcome 15% minimum reduction of civil servants staff and pay even if it will affect me directly.
Remember Caymanians, our new Caymanians, that 'Caymanian status/by birth paper' is not 100% entitlement RIGHT? So do what needs to be done for the country, accept the necessary cuts stop living above your means and if you want the salaries of those high paying jobs in the private sectors, now is the time to show you have more qualifications than 'Caymanian status' and that you are here for the long term.
Ladies and Gentlemen did PPMer ended by saying "We cant forever be spending,spending,spending" well LMBAO,he mussi wa living under 100 ft. of snow in the North Pole when the PPM were in power spending,spending,spendng,PPMer please go back under your rock,or better yet,go back and bury yourself in some North pole snow!!
Sigh. Read the Miller-Shaw report, taking careful note of its comments on the unsustainable benefits being provided to the very large civil service without any contribution from civil servants towards the funding of these benefits. It is not rocket science. But I forgot, there is an election in a year.
Get real. The Miller report was back then, this is now!
Erm, so 12:25, what has changed to make the Miller- Shaw report's comments about civil service benefits irrelevant? Other than the fact that we are even deeper in economic distress than we were when it first appeared?
Deal with the elephant in the room and stop thinking about votes in May!
ALL Civil Servants need to pay BOTH their pensions and health insurance! This is far better than laying off a bunch of people who would still end up being our problem. Stop talking about this and get it done. Its hard but it is the right thing to do because we simply cannot afford otherwise!
Reinstate garbage fees $100 is peanuts and our civic duty. I already notice all the cutbacks and delays in garbage pickup. These guys are working their tails off and we need to pay our way.
Someone with a strict hand needs to review the social services budget and handling of payments. This would be a very interesting report for the Auditor General to work on. We would probably shudder at the mismanagement and waste of funds being paid out to people who aren't indigent and needy.
Increase the boat fees and institute a fee on jet ski's for private use. These are luxury items increase the fees.
Garbage fees should be tied to one of the utility bills, e.g. water or electricity. You don't pay your garbage fees, your water or electricity gets cut off….simple. People should be ashamed for not having to pay to have their garbage collected. I am part of a Strata and have no choice but to pay $1638.00….approximately $25 per month for garbage collection. $100 per year is nothing and will go a long way as part of a revenue source!
The FCO has set a high standard for this govenrment in their fiscal micromanagement, I have to wonder when the next government comes in, will they continue to treat us the way they are treating us now. Mr. Governor, I wouldn't mind having a bit of financial independence. Could you please help us?
This is what I don't like with government. When one party makes a mess they leave for the other party to clean it up, and you know that can never happen in three years time. Because PPM spent money like it was going out of style, leaving us with a God knows deficit, and we werehit hard by a recession, the UK has become ever reluctant to accept this government's budget. Many times the UDP has asked for borrowing to stimulate the economy, and many times the UK has turned them down. It is hypocritical now to see certain members in the LA, make a mockery of the Premierbecause he has not produced a budget to the UK's liking, when these same members contributed to this mess. Interestingly, Alden is so quiet. Ezzard was the only one that spoke out on how he was so embarrassed. Yet I must commend the Premier, it cleans his hands and leaves it to the UK's ax man to do the austere measure. He does this to deflect his party taking the rap for conditions that were made over time from PPM's days. Still, some Caymanians are so fool fool, they will put PPM back in because what is happening now they honestly believe is UDP's fault. May I remind them that UDP has started a project that will bring revenue into the country, the Shetty Hospital (Medical Tourism)…. what project did PPM started that brought revenue into the country??????
I noticed folk thumbs you down, but I see no reply. No answer for a good argument.
fair examiner you are a fool if you think that it was JUST the government before now. UDP spent like it was going out of style before that!!!
You won't see much revenue from the Shetty hospital. All negotiated away in concessions. And the UDP did not start that project. Shetty came knocking and the UDP happened to be in power at the time.
Your post needs rephrasing: Still, some Caymanians are so fool fool, they will vote for UDP because what is happening now they honestly believe is PPM's fault.
A failure to prepare a budget is not PPM's fault. A failure to take any austerity measures or make any significant cuts to expenditure is not PPM's fault. Having budget deficits after a claimed $25m surplus in 2011 is not PPM's fault. Giving away public funds to people for solar panels, house repairs, nation building, private driveway and car park paving is not PPM's fault. Breaching contracts with GLF and Tom Jones International that may cost us up to $22m is not the PPM's fault. The failure to build the cruise terminal or actually accomplish anything in his term is not the PPM's fault. Splurging on personal extravagances and fancy parties in foreign cities with your friends at public expense is not the PPM's fault.
Under PPM, it was the Financial Secretary that put the country into debt. Kurt and Alden's hands were clean and their hearts were pure.
Shetty walked in the door without any effort by the UDP.
Yes, Fair, you are right. Each party tries to nail down their position and get rich….. at the expense of the public, of course. And yes, it is hypocritical for certain members to bitch about the Premier's actions, or lack thereof. I personally don't think I'm hypocritical when I criticise his far-fetched ideas and spending that do nothing for the public. As for borrowing money, it is insane to borrow with no sensible plan for retiring the debt. I side with the UK in turning him down. When I think of all the hare-brained ideas the Premier has come up with it's hard to put any trust or confidence in anything he fosters, including Shetty!
Just one more failure of the Useless Dumb People party. Wasnt it supposed to be that their one redeeming feature was that they could get the country’s finances in order? Maybe if they had spent their time doing what they are supposed to do, which is to develop policy and promulgate the necessary legislation to give it effect, rather than spending all their time (which we paid for) in Dart’s boardrooms “negotiating” the ForkCaymanAlliance (so aptly named), then they would have had time to balance the budget. Seriously, there is hardly anything they have touched that they haven’t screwed up royally. Maybe the plan is to plunge the country so far into debt that the only option is for Dart to buy the entire national debt? In exchange for some major “concessions”, of course.
Imagine what next years ThroneSpeech would sound like then…
Friend, government operating expenditures are ongoing. It is impossible for government to stop spending in a matter of 4 years. You cant expect them not to spend, not to pay salaries, and not to continue operations. I think that would be a little unrealistic, don't you think? Those deals with Dart in which you paint such a bad picture of, are necessary to help bring in revenue into the country. You make deals and concessions to keep them. With the UK restrictions on borrowing, are you saying that the PPM government (if they were to get in) should not make deals with investors to try to turn the economy around? I don't think your seeing the big picture.