Acting Justice Minister Marinka Gumbs presents 113.77 million guilder budget while Minister Nathalie Tackling is on medical leave; millions in planned projects still require financing
PHILIPSBURG:--- St. Maarten’s Ministry of Justice enters the 2027 budget debate with spending virtually unchanged, only 54 percent of its authorized posts filled, and millions of guilders in planned investments still awaiting financing.
Finance Minister Marinka Gumbs, presenting the Justice budget in her capacity as Acting Minister of Justice while Minister Nathalie Tackling is on medical leave, described the proposal as a standstill budget whose limitations Parliament must understand before approving it.
The draft allocates 113,769,620 guilders in operating expenditure, approximately 44,000 guilders less than the approved 2026 budget of 113,813,582 guilders—a decline of about 0.04 percent.
Behind that almost unchanged total, however, are persistent vacancies, postponed equipment purchases, substantial outstanding personnel commitments and a gap between budgeted contributions to shared Kingdom institutions and what those institutions have requested.
“This is a maintenance budget,” Gumbs told Parliament. “In the strictest sense, it maintains what we had.”
590 workers in an establishment of 1,096 posts
The presentation’s clearest warning concerned personnel.
Only 590 of the ministry’s 1,096 authorized posts are filled, compared with 591 a year earlier. Despite recruitment efforts and appointments, departures have left the overall staffing position effectively unchanged.
The 2027 budget sets aside 2,590,424 guilders to recruit 53 employees—the same allocation and number of posts provided for in 2026.
Even if all 53 positions are filled, staffing would rise to only approximately 59 percent of the authorized establishment.
Gumbs placed the cost of filling every vacant post at approximately 45.52 million guilders, leaving a difference of approximately 42.93 million guilders beyond the recruitment provision.
She emphasized that the ministry was not requesting that entire additional amount. Instead, she called for a phased approach with measurable appointments and reporting.
“I am asking that we measure this ministry by appointments made, not vacancies advertised,” she said.
The ministry committed to providing the Justice Committee with figures showing appointments and departures, alongside an update on the phased staffing plan and quarterly recruitment reporting previously promised.
Prison operates at 39 percent of authorized staffing
The shortages extend across the justice chain, but the prison and remand center’s figures are particularly stark.
The presentation identified 90 filled posts out of an establishment of 230, or approximately 39 percent.
Police staffing stands at 211 of 344 posts, approximately 61 percent. Immigration and Border Protection is at 63 percent, Customs at 44 percent, and the Landsrecherche—the investigative service responsible for integrity offenses—at approximately 26 percent.
The Prosecutor’s Office is at 85 percent and Judicial Affairs at 73 percent.
Gumbs linked those vacancies directly to operational consequences: overtime, gaps in supervision, reduced inspection capacity, delayed cases, and difficulties delivering rehabilitation programs.
“When any part of the chain is thin, cases age, pre-trial detention lengthens, and the law loses its deterrent value,” she said. “The cost lands on victims first.”
Financial intelligence unit has seven of 40 posts filled
The Financial Intelligence Unit, referred to in the presentation as the MOT, has only seven of its 40 posts filled—approximately 18 percent of its authorized establishment.
Its allocation remains approximately 1.74 million guilders. A 44 percent reduction highlighted during the previous budget presentation has not been revisited in the 2027 proposal, Gumbs said.
She connected the unit’s work to correcting deficiencies identified through the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force assessment process and warned of the importance of financial intelligence capacity to the country’s banking relationships.
The presentation also identified the disappearance of approximately 1.3 million guilders in MOT project income that had been included in 2026.
Immigration permit income is projected to rise to approximately 2.7 million guilders, an increase of approximately 704,000 guilders, or 35.2 percent. Overall ministry revenue, however, is expected to fall by approximately 595,000 guilders, or 2.3 percent, to around 24.8 million guilders.
Underspending reflects work left undone
Gumbs presented estimated 2025 expenditure of approximately 86.9 million guilders against a budget of 107.1 million guilders—an execution rate of about 81 percent.
She cautioned Parliament against treating the difference as evidence of savings.
According to the presentation, much of the gap reflects funded positions that remain vacant and programs waiting for the people needed to implement them.
“Funding a post and filling it are two different things,” she said, pointing to vetting, screening and training requirements.
The figures underline a central difficulty: approving expenditure does not ensure that the ministry can convert it into staff, equipment or services.
Two million guilders redirected to prison guards
Personnel costs account for approximately 81.8 million guilders, or 71.9 percent of the operating budget, up from approximately 79.8 million guilders in 2026.
The increase largely reflects an internal transfer of 2 million guilders previously allocated to detention costs abroad.
Gumbs said the Netherlands has agreed that St. Maarten does not have to cover the relevant costs of detainees housed in the Netherlands and Curaçao until the new penitentiary institution is completed.
The resulting budget room has been redirected toward paying prison guards recruited in 2026.
Although the prison’s overall allocation remains approximately 15.7 million guilders, the spending mix changes from material expenses to personnel.
Goods and services across the ministry consequently fall to about 13.6 million guilders, down from 15.6 million guilders previously.
Gumbs said the transfer supports staffing at home but also narrows the ministry’s remaining operational flexibility.
2026 equipment purchases pushed into 2027
The separate capital budget totals 4,471,990 guilders and repeats the previous year’s investment list.
Gumbs said the ministry made no capital expenditure in 2026. The budget was approved in August, and the government did not have sufficient time to arrange the borrowing required to finance the purchases.
The deferred list includes vehicles for justice departments, police CCTV, border-protection computers, immigration applications and office furniture.
Transport equipment accounts for approximately 2.2 million guilders, or 49.2 percent of the capital allocation. ICT equipment represents approximately 1.41 million guilders, or 31.6 percent, while software accounts for approximately 441,000 guilders.
The delay has practical consequences, Gumbs said: vehicles already considered uneconomical to repair have had to remain in service.
She expressed hope that timely approval of the 2027 budget would allow borrowing and procurement to proceed earlier.
Another 7.2 million guilders in projects remain unfunded
Beyond that equipment list, the presentation identified approximately 7.2 million guilders in capital projects linked to the ministry’s strategic goals.
Those projects are outside the chapter’s 4.47 million guilder capital allocation and still require financing.
They include a National Targeting Center and customs modernization, work toward a screening authority and a center addressing criminal interference in public administration, a reporting center against human trafficking and smuggling, and justice-sector digital infrastructure.
“It is planned, not financed,” Gumbs said.
That distinction leaves Parliament considering a budget that maintains existing operations while several proposed improvements remain dependent on additional financial arrangements.
Kingdom institutions request 5.67 million guilders more
The budget reserves 13,822,635 guilders for contributions under Kingdom arrangements, approximately 12.1 percent of the ministry’s operating expenditure.
However, the institutions concerned requested a combined 19,495,491 guilders for 2027—a difference of 5,672,856 guilders.
The Joint Court of Justice is budgeted at approximately 6.39 million guilders, compared with a request of approximately 8.70 million guilders.
The Prosecutor’s Office is allocated approximately 986,000 guilders, against a request of approximately 2.23 million guilders. The Attorney General’s Office is allocated approximately 1.75 million guilders against a request for approximately 3.53 million guilders.
The Law Enforcement Council is allocated 925,000 guilders against a request for approximately 1.27 million guilders.
The Kingdom contribution to the Coast Guard, approximately 3.77 million guilders, matches the amount requested. Gumbs clarified that this contribution is separate from Coast Guard personnel expenditure elsewhere in the budget.
She said the differences had been discussed with Kingdom partners through the judicial four-party consultation and would be addressed during 2027 and in the multiannual budgets.
The gap should not be presented as a saving, she emphasized, or allowed to emerge later without informing Parliament.
Justice workers’ payments remain subject to processing
The budget includes 5.08 million guilders for justice workers’ placement and retroactive remuneration commitments.
For the first phase, the ministry is working on files involving 15 active employees still awaiting national decrees and seven former employees who resigned after January 1, 2023, but retain entitlements.
Management has been instructed to complete the remaining files and submit them before November 30, 2026.
The second phase involves validating retroactive salary calculations covering October 10, 2010, through December 31, 2022.
The memorandum anticipates payments during the first and second quarters of 2027, but Gumbs cautioned that payment depends on signed national decrees reaching the relevant salary-processing department.
She said most files should, prudently, be expected to be finalized in the second quarter of 2027, rather than presenting a guaranteed payment date.
The third phase, involving retired employees, is planned to begin in the second quarter, subject to the necessary processing and ratification.
The presentation also set January 31, 2027, as the latest deadline for completing the tender for law-enforcement staff insurance, with funding included in the budget.
Crime Fund plan carries forward
The Crime Fund’s approximately 1.196 million guilder policy plan covers 11 projects and carries forward into 2027 because implementation began after its budget was approved in August 2026.
Projects include youth diversion, reintegration, skills development, gun-violence intervention and immigration professionalization.
The presentation cited a fund balance of approximately 4.156 million guilders as of May 31, 2026.
A further 1 million guilders in border-control funding is earmarked through the fund for structural repairs to the foreigner detention center.
Gumbs committed to reporting project by project on disbursements, delivery and shortcomings, and to explaining to the Justice Committee which elements of the promised governance framework remain outstanding.
Prison reconstruction proceeds through separate funding
The presentation also identified major work financed outside the national budget proposal, including the Point Blanche reconstruction project with UNOPS, valued at approximately US$53 million.
Approximately US$4 million is committed over multiple years to UNODC-supported work on prison regimes, programming and staff capability.
Other externally supported activities include border-control cooperation, measures against criminal interference in government processes, police training and youth-focused programs.
Gumbs said these activities must also be subject to reporting, even where their funding does not pass through the budget before Parliament.
For the Justice Ministry, the 2027 proposal therefore presents two immediate tests: delivering the work already financed and securing funding for improvements still outside the budget.
With staffing almost unchanged from a year earlier, equipment purchases carried forward and significant institutional requests awaiting resolution, the ministry’s performance will depend heavily on whether its commitments become completed appointments, functioning services and delivered projects.
“This is not a request for a blank check,” Gumbs told Parliament. “It is a request that a standstill budget be approved with its limits understood.”
