No interim revenue revealed
(CNS): As legislators debated late on Wednesday evening, no details of how government intended to fund its request for $127 million were revealed. Although the premier has statedthat he needs to cut government’s core operational expenses to well below last year’s figure, there are no cuts in spending for the interim plan, which averages expense of almost $63.5 million per month. Bush did not say what government’s projected earnings would be for the next two months but has requested an overdraft facility of $25 million. If government was to continue spending at the same rate for the rest of the year it would need to cover expenses of around $760 million.
Although McKeeva Bush said the two month spending plan should not be translated as “2/12ths” of the amount that government will spend over the next fiscal year, he did not say how the expenses would be paid for or how he would then hone down the next ten months to an average monthly spending of less than $40 million to reach a balanced budget for the rest of the year.
Bush said the FCO is insisting on further reductions to the premier’s original spending target of $498 million. This means he will need to reduce operating expenses for government over the remaining ten months to an average of less than $37 million — a task which seems almost insurmountable without major legislative changes and the cancellation of many government programmes.
Bush has turned his sights on the liquor trade for an increase in fees but it is understood he is seeking to raise around $800,000 in order to fund a hospitality school. No other new revenue raising measures have yet been revealed, nor has government shown any figures reflecting the earnings it expects to see this fiscal year from its major revenue streams, such as work permits, duty and or financial services fees.
In the stop-gap budget government appears to have opted for business as usual and has included almost ¾ of a million dollars appropriations to the Nation Building Fund and a $2 million subsidy to the Turtle Farm, among other major costs.
The premier revealed that the UK had twice rejected his proposals over the last week. The FCO declined to approve the original budget proposal, which had included some $59 million of long term borrowing as well as the government overdraft. Bush then proposed to deliver the budget without the long term borrowing and to negotiate that with UK officials separately. However, the British also declined that proposal and said the premier needed to cut spending.
The UK has offered to send an economics expert to Cayman to help government shave its spending and present a balanced budget before the end of August.
Legislators return to the LA this morning at 10am, when the premier will deliver his response to yesterday’s debate on the motion for the stop-gap spending plan and for the House to vote on the motion. Given that not a single member of the government benches has ever voted against or deliberately abstained from a motion presented by the premier, the emergency budget is likely to pass.
See government’s motion for a stop-gap budget and the premier’s accompanying speech below.
Category: Politics
63 million per month seems like a tremendous amount to spend in a country of only 50,000 people. This is over $1000 per person, or more than 12,000 per year
The first thing Government has to do is to objectively analyse where all this money is going. Only after that will it be able to make the necessary cuts.
McKeeva is desperately trying to avoid cutting the civil service — too many freeloader voters who are otherwise employable are absorbed by CIG when they cant hold a job any where else and expect to be paid to waste time and have a job with no accountability.
Especially before election
& stop wasting money on these stupid anti-OMOV full page Compass advertisements! Its your own referendum!
Maybe you all should stop trying to squeeze logic and intellegence from an idiot and put your efforts into doing something that has a chance of success.
Specifically, He is trying not to cut Civil Servants before the One Man One Vote date in order not to create more Yes votes.
On TV news, Mac rattled off all of those responsible for our financial problems which included the Auditor General. He then claimed that the opposition is full of criticism and no solutions.
Well Mac, you at least admit we have a problem. This is a good start. The solution which would have prevented all of this financial stress was presented to you in the form of the Milller-Shaw Report after you took office. If you had implemented the recommended solutions in that report you would not find yourself in the financial hole you have dug. The root of your woes is your lack of education and the fact that you are surrounded by puppets. When you say "jump" they ask "how high?"
You are in no way qualified to run a country let alone take charge of its' finances and that fact has come to light for all to see.
When a visitor comes here on vacation and is charged very high prices for this destination and then sees some of the squalor and poverty that exist, they can only conclude that this country has a government that is out of control and has no idea of how to manage its’ financial affairs. After all, there are cheaper and less expensive destinations that have a much lower cost of living and a lower poverty index than Cayman.
Now the UK is offering to send an economist here to take charge of overseeing our financial crisis. You have already ignored the Miller-Shaw recommendations; I firmly hope you don't ignore this assistance the UK is offering.
The root of the problem with Cayman's financial crisis is clear. If you want to see it for yourself simply go look in a mirror.
I'm amazed at one particular physical aspect of our Premier: his butt. Not only is his head up there but he apparently also keeps all the answers to all our problems up there – 'cause he keeps pulling stuff out of his butt.
Come and see the Cayman Circus featuring McKeeva Bush and his Magical Butt.
Mr. Bush I only attended pre kindergarten but EVEN I KNOW that "2/12ths" is only 1/6th "which is much smaller! SEE! This is how you save money.
McKeeva rigged-up jobs for all his UDP Cronies and failed candidates XXXX …. find a way to get George McCarthy in as a consultant to help you
Can we hear from the Private Sector Consultative Committee, Chamber of Commerce, Law Society, Fund Managers Association, Bankers Association, CISPA please?
These groups will not put their head above the water as they have no balls except maybe the a
chamber. There are concerned about retribution.
Right! They have a much better chance of getting anything done then all the Caymanian people do.
This interim budget should only be for operational expenses, not for capital expenditure or trough funds! It should only be a stop gap measure until the real budget is presented and approved.
It seems as if Mr. Bush is trying to ge the UK to come down here and manage the finances for him. Easy way to not do the hard work.
Doesn't the premier realize that if he increased the liquor duties that it will effect the majority of people in Cayman as the prices for the products will be raised and so will the prices in the restaurnts will be higher also.
Maybe you would prefer income tax . ..
Very simple. No new projects! No solar panels, no Hospitality school. Get our house in order first!
How many times does a Caymanian have to fail at something in Cayman before other Caymanians stop thinking he can do anything he says he can? Honest Question.
And since that has never happened before what do you think should be done?
Anything?
Why can't you run the country on FOUR HUNDRED AND EIGHTY MILLION DOLLARS? Thats about $32,000 per voter which seems like it should be plenty.
i miss the days of proper 12 month sham budgets…….
now we got to make do with a 2 month sham budget…..
Look on the bring side, this way we get 6 of them!
10 ;41
You better thank God we do have a sham budget….as you call it. but we will survive! no matter what…have faith , my friend!
Check out Bush's rant on CITN news. All he can do is blame blame blame.
I guess the PPM, FCO, Auditor General and Press are to blame for the following expenditure blunders by CIG too:
Boatswain's Beach annual 9mil in losses
Bush purchase of Bush' cousin's landfor 3 times value
Cohen & Co 400k loss
Tom Jones' lawsuit ??mil settlement soon come
GLF settlement 2-3mil
Hurricane Hilton foundation to nowhere
Brac Agriculture Highway to nowhere
Empty low-income houses, although Foolio said there were 700 on Kurt's waiting list – where did they go?
Any others i missed?
In actuality, Tom Jones and GLF have cost us far more.
Firstly, I am sure that Tom Jones would have managed to complete the schools for far le$$ money and in less time than CIG has.
Secondly, due to losses in the private sector for those who depend on cruise tourism.
yes, you missed the "nation building fund", i.e. giving millions of dollars to a west bay church (his own church) with no consultation or checks and balances, or even any kind of explanation.
Paving parking lots, countless unneeded trips and let's not forget JUJU body guard.
Don't forget the 2million he gave to the churches when he first was in office.
Have your laugh 20; 37
Just remember , he who laugh last laugh best. i guess you are pissed off, because this Government is doing something for the poor people.
"This Government is doing something for the poor people". Which poor people??? I am still trying to feed my family, which includes a bedridden mother and a child with Multiple Sclerosis on 600.00 per month total. The Government is paying me a penaion and that is for slavcing for years at salary way below what the position was supposed to pay because I did not have a college degree. Now the same position is being filled by a UDP supporter, who does not even have a proper high school diploma and who is being paid over 3,000.00 per month becuse she voted for McKeeva. There was a promise that an increase in pensions and poor relief would be forthcoming and I guess that will be after the OMOV referendum goes through, certainly not in McCastro's Government.
Dear Poor Person,
If this Government was working properly we wouldn't have a growing number of poor people to deal with.
Like many poor people, you believe it is the purpose of government to take care of you. This way of life is practiced in places like the old Hippie Communes of the 1960's and in communist countries like Cuba. Unfortunately, we are still not considered Communists or Socialists yet. Remember where Government gets its money, from all of the rest of us including YOU! Your Government exists for the purpose of meeting societies basic needs and services, not to create jobs or give money to the poor. We have social programs in place to deal with helping those unable to help themselves but it is being under funded and mismanaged by those in public office who would rather spend the money on foreign trips and senseless development. It is your Government that is broken and failing your basic needs.
Fortunately, there is a simple way to fix this situation. Vote yes on July 18th for One Man One Vote. Why? you ask?. It’s simply because this broken Government doesn’t want you to vote YES. They want to keep you poor and under their thumb. Get them out of office or things will remain the same for you and all poor people. In fact if things remain the same we will all be poor sooner rather than later.
You fiorgot the $5,000 christmas lights and his home electric bills home water bills and personal cook's salary that he decided would come from our tax dollars rather than his own inflated salary.
http://centos6-httpd22-php56-mysql55.installer.magneticone.com/o_belozerov/31115drupal622/foi/2010/06/21/people-pay-premiers-bills
Another one would be Mike Ryans $6,000,000 deferred duty that won’t get paid thanks to Nac…
Step up to the mainstage to see Mac the Magnificent Magician materialize $760 million out of thin air! Come one, come all! This is all an illusion, we aren't poor guys!
Wait, hospitality school? "Minister of all t'ings" is taking on another project. It's really a wonder how he didn't sort this budget mess out.
09;58
Why are you so stupid? this is not Mac's budget, dummy, it's Caymanian people's budget. I hope you are not part of the public servants seeking these funds.
if you are not, im sure you have family or friends in one of those same department that Mac is tryng to please, so they can keep their job. be carefull what you wish for.
Thank you for that contribution.
The CIG cannot increase its revenue. Already work permit fees, duty, and the cost of doing business on the island are too high and are making us less competitive versus other offshore jurisdictions.
But on the other side of the ledger spending is completely out of control. There are multiple, well-documented examples of government waste. There's a total lack of checks and balances meaning a significant portion of the CIG's money is being misappropriated or mis-spent. There are slush funds and money changing hands without oversight or justification. A huge civil service with low productivity and huge pensions and insurance costs. And the financial reporting is just too vague and done too long after the fact to be of any use.
It is obvious what needs to be done to balance the books: Government spending needs to be drastically reduced. That shouldn't be hard to do. If each dollar of public spending was put to good use and accounted for spending could probably be reduced by 50%-60%.
And yet with this interim fudget Bush has revealed that he intends to change nothing. $167m in 2 months is $762m per year. If it is approved, that would be more than 30% of the year's budget gone in the first 2 months. Does anyone really believe that we're going to meet the target for the rest of the year after a start like that? And where's it going? Turtle Farm, nation building, solar panels, free renovations. Slush funds with murky oversight, usually at the Premier's sole discretion. If anything the profligacy is getting worse and the country is sliding further into the abyss.
Revenue cannot be increased without increasing the cost of living or the cost of doing business here. Both are too high already. The only way to ensure the long term wellbeing of this country is to reduce spending, and McKeeva Bush has demonstrated that he is not the man to do that.
"Bush said the two month spending plan should not be translated as “2/12ths” "
Well, did he present a forecast of the 12 month spending plan so that we could see an average of 37million per month?
If not, then i gotta go with what's in front of me.
This is Mac's glory moment and a chance to erase much of his bad public image and even get a statue in Heroes Square…
Two steps to follow Mc:
1, Accept you are not going to get reelected.
2, Accepting the above, be willing to make RADICAL cuts and changes in the civil service – slash 20-30% of the workforce and the expenses that come with it.
Budget problem solved!!!
Whilst #2 is going to get alot of people upset and would be the death nell for any career politician,having accepted #1 is true, Mac would go down in history as the ballsiest leader ever, willing to sacrifice his career for the good of the country – and he could save the day and turn England's attention off of us!!!
However, the massive flaw in my plan is the insurmountable ego at play… Never mind then.
Sorry 09:15
Mac will excel like he always do, and you all look like the fools when he wins the next election. you all dont have the brain to run this country.
Coming from one of the educated West Bayers……
Mac has a brain? Well ofcourse he does, thats why he is able to walk around, breathe etc.
But thats where it stops.
The revenue secret that the premier is not revealing at the moment is that he is going to sell the Intellectual Property in being the first government in the 180 year legislative history of Cayman to be so incompetent that it cannot even produce a credible budget.
Please consider amending the last sentence of the first paragraph of the article to include something along the lines of "in contrast to the $480 Million in total revenue for the current fiscal year." That would assist in showing how ridiculous this interim budget is.
the chamber of commerce should now call for the resignation of bush…….
bush you made an enemy of the fco with your ludicrous allegations recently….. unfortunatly now we all got bare the conseqences…..
More importantly he has made an enemy of the people.