Richardson said Blackman tried to show the people of St. Maarten and the CFT that it was practically impossible for St. Maarten to show a balance and realistic budget for 2011 however all his efforts were rejected and he was condemned. Richardson said for the past ten or more years St. Maarten did not see a balance budget.
Government he said, should begin looking in the mirror and admit that they have the wrong team and consultants working on the budget.
In the meantime, leader of the National Alliance William Marlin in a comment to reporters about the 2011 budget said over the years government has been presenting budgets that were balanced on paper while in the end the budgets were not realistic when the accounts are done at the end of each year.
Marlin said when he was in government some months ago and his team was working on the 2011 budget they were lacking vital information since that information was never compiled and provided over the last years, thus making it extremely difficult to present all the required information on time.
As for the deficit he said there was 11 million guilders lacking and they had a proposal to increase the turn over tax by 1% for six months which members supporting the government did not support. Marlin said at that point he went to the Finance Minister of the Central Government who decided to grant St. Maarten 15 million guilders so that hole in the budget could have been filled.
"Right now this government is trying to pass the buck and blame the National Alliance who was in government with now Deputy Prime Minister Theo Heyliger who is co-responsible for all decisions taken by the coalition government."
Marlin said the current Finance Minister was also passing the buck when he laid the blame on the former government claiming he inherited the mess when in fact he was head of resources for all government departments over the years.
Marlin said St. Maarten has a serious problem to deal with regarding its budget yet government went ahead and made an agreement with the teachers for July this year which would cost them another 13 to 15 million guilders. Marlin said while there is 30 million deficit in the budget and government would also have to find that 15 million to pay out the cost of living allowance this year. Government he said would have to find away to generate these monies or they would have to cut back on expenditures both of which are humongous tasks that government must fulfill.
Marlin said prior to him leaving government there were several measures that were being worked on to generate alternative income. One of those measures he said was the levying of a 5% cash out fee on casinos. Marlin said this fee was never levied before on St. Maarten but levying such a fee will not affect the profitability of the casinos while this will be a new source of income for government. "Each time someone goes to the cashier to cash out they are subjected to the 5% cash out fee, whether or not the person won or lost. That fee he said will generate additional monies for government which is estimated to be several millions annually." Marlin said levying the 5% cash out cannot be considered additional taxes on the people since it is only applicable to persons who go to the casinos and cashed out.
Marlin said he already got indication that government will be levying additional fees on the people even though they are denying it. These fees he said will be used to cover the expense of the projects the Minister of Infrastructure has planned.