Unbiased look at the Sint Maarten Elections
PHILIPSBURG:--- Minister of Finance Martin Hassink informed reporters on Wednesday that his appearance at Wednesday's weekly press conference will be his last appearance as Minister of Finance since he is a caretaker Minister. SMN News asked the Minister of Finance whose name came up during the formation of the first government that was in the making to remain as the Minister of Finance if the candidate that was submitted by the UPP/De Weever/ Marlin government fails the screening for any reason and he is asked to remain as the Minister of Finance if he will refuse the position. Minister Hassink said that if that should happen then he will only accept the position for a period of three months until the current coalition government finds a suitable person to appoint as Minister. The caretaker Minister of Finance said he prefers to work as an advisor to the government (Ministry of Finance) if the government so wishes.
Draft Budget 2015.
As per the draft 2015 budget, Minister Hassink said that the draft budget is already late and he is hopeful that the draft will be submitted very soon since the draft budget is currently at the Council of Advice. He said on Tuesday next week the Council of Ministers will be discussing the draft budget with stands at Naf. 445M. The 2015 budget was estimated based on the first half year income of 2014. Minister Hassink said that during the second half of 2014 government income reduced somewhat and that is the reason the CFT believes that the 2015 draft budget is not realistic. "We are contesting what the CFT said and we intend to bring arguments that will show that the Government of St. Maarten can realize its budget for the year 2015. Furthermore, the Government of St. Maarten will not cut the budget and the Naf. 445M will stand. The CFT also suggested that government must compensate the loss they had in previous years which he said is estimated at about Naf. 12M. If we have to take this up in the 2015 budget (operating cost) that would mean that government will have make another cut of Naf. 12M which is not possible."Hassink also said he believes that government has to work on a plan because every year the Government of St. Maarten is struggling with drafting its budget and they have to continuously make cuts, therefore something must be done with the crisis management. Minister Hassink who indicated that he will not take up the post as Minister permanently if it is offered to him, said he is busy working on a plan which will allow government to structurally increase its income to about Naf. 500M. This plan he said is a three year plan and if government realizes his plan then all the Ministries will have the monies to do what they need to do.The Minister said that the drafting of the 2015 budget was indeed challenging since all the Ministries have plans and business that exceeds the ceilings. Minister Hassink further explained that while he is working on a plan government already started a project that is funded by USONA to increase its income.The Minister sent out a warning to business owners and persons that have government long lease land and did not pay their dues to expect a marshal knocking on their doors soon.When asked by SMN News how much was the draft 2015 budget affected by the advance concession fees that was collected in 2014 from government owned companies, Minister Hassink said the only government owned company that paid their concession fees in advance was GEBE and that did affect the 2013 budget and the financial statements.. Minister Hassink was asked by SMN News to give an update on the monies that AUC owes the Government of St. Maarten due to the profit tax that they did not pay when they sold the company. Minister Hassink said that the court case with AUC is scheduled to take place sometime this week.Minister Hassink said he hopes that he will get the chance to present the annual accounts and financial reports (statements) to the parliament of St. Maarten.
