Brison queries short period given to review draft budget

PHILIPSBURG–The draft 2018 budget is with Parliament, albeit four months in the year it is prepared for. Deliberations on the draft are slated to start on Thursday at 10:00am in a Central Committee sitting. The scheduling of the session has drawn comment from new Member of Parliament (MP) Rolando Brison.

The United St. Maarten Party MP has written to Parliament Chairwoman Sarah Wescot-Williams this week to query the length of time given to the Council of Advice to review and render an advice on the document. The Council was given, according to him, “one full business day” for its task. He said the Council recently told Parliament “they try to get the most urgent requests completed within two weeks.”

The time MPs have to prepare for the deficit debate on the 191-page budget is “a major concern” for Brison. MPs were given “just three days ahead” of the Central Committee meeting to review “a flawed document.” In the “poorly scanned document,” Brison said most headings and figures “illegible.”

The budget is written in Dutch, “despite many requests by several factions in the past” for Government to “present it in both languages” – English and Dutch.

Brison has also requested a “fully digital version” of the draft budget in Excel with the explanatory notes in Word or PDF format “to better evaluate the items” in the budget, search documents and to confirm “the rudimentary mathematical accuracies and calculations.”

“I believe it to be one of the most crucial budgets approved by our country, paramount to the recovery of this island. To have this budget schedule proceed as suggested by the Minister of Finance with the lack of preparation time would be paramount to relegating Parliament to a ‘rubber stamp.’”

The MP has called for clarity from Finance Minister Mike Ferrier about the deadline.

Brison’s rubber stamp reference stems from Dutch Kingdom Affairs Minister Raymond Knop’s March 27 letter that insists Parliament will approve the budget and present it to the Governor by May 1.

In that letter, Knops informed the St. Maarten Government that the Kingdom Council of Ministers had approved application of Article 25 for Budgets 2017 and 2018. It also included six conditions the local Government is to adhere to and ensure the budget is approved by Parliament by May 1.

The budget was due since December 2017, but has been delayed due to the widespread devastation of Hurricane Irma in September 2017.

To meet that deadline, Brison pointed out MPs would have “just five days of deliberations even if we work through the weekend and holidays … On top of that we have to debate three crucial topics Wednesday and we must prepare for that too.” That Central Committee meeting, requested by the National Alliance (NA), will deal with the status of the country’s recovery post-Hurricane Irma, the landfill issues and the hacking of Government’s Information Technology system earlier this month.

Brison said the goal of his request is to ensure all MPs “have what is necessary to uphold this constitutional responsibility granted to us by the people.”

Source: The Daily Herald https://www.thedailyherald.sx/islands/76006-brison-queries-short-period-given-to-review-draft-budget

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