Philipsburg: --- Prime Minister Sarah Wescot-Williams responding to questions posed by SMN News on the 2011 budget discussions during the Council of Ministers press briefing on Wednesday confirmed that the Council of Ministers will be continuing the discussions on Thursday. The Prime Minister said that the discussion began on the draft budget. She said there were several proposals which include the increasing of revenues and cutting cost. While not divulging how government will be increasing revenues SMN News learnt that the Turn over Tax will be increased to 5%. Wescot Williams said the finance department made a presentation to the council on the proposals. Wescot-Williams further explained the two coalition partners would have to discuss the budget and they would propose measures pertaining to the budget.The idea she said is for everybody to understand how they are seeking to have a balanced budget to present to the CFT by the deadline. The Prime Minister said that St. Maarten chose to become a country which brings certain responsibilities that government are prepared to bear. However, these responsibilities require more finances. She said St. Maarten still needs to continue making its case with all of the projections that have been made some which dates back to the year 2000. Some of these matters she said do have financial consequences that St. Maarten could have foreseen. The Prime Minister said based on that alone it is extremely difficult for St. Maarten to present a balanced budget for the year 2011. Government she said was prepared to announce or even discuss if necessary any measures even if unpopular but they would have loved to have the time necessary to negotiate and to look at possible alternatives before a decision is taken. She said whether those measures would have been just cost cutting or generating more revenues. Wescot Williams said St. Maarten is stuck with the law that governs the financial operation of St. Maarten. The Prime Minister said that "government is not letting up on the constant remarks that are being heard." She said that there are issues surfacing now that were made during the financial and constitutional agreements for the island to become country. In a follow up question the Prime Minister when asked to elaborate on the issues that are now surfacing she said that one would expect that when the transfer of services from the federal government took place the books would have also been turned over to the government of St. Maarten. She gave an example of the Postal Services of St. Maarten where a company is now set up here but the agreements are still to be finalized while that service is requiring monies from the government of St. Maarten. Wescot Williams said the matters pertaining to the employees that were transferred to St. Maarten was to have a final agreement where St. Maarten would have taken over the employees starting with a clean slate on October 10. However, she said that is not the situation today since there are several outstanding matters that have to be settled. The employees would have a valid claim and they could only take their cases to their new employer which is the government of St. Maarten.
