Contractor Henk Wulf officially handed over the completed Cobble stone Road in front of the Sacred Heart Catholic Church in The Bottom to the Executive Council last week. The road was delivered on time and also in time for the visit of the Royal Family to the island early this month.

The completion of the road comes with relief to motorists and residents, who had to bear with the constant rerouting of traffic during the construction of the  road. The new façade of the road is made up of face rock, the same rock used in the walls that line the Saban streets. The road is now much smoother, which motorists on the island will surely appreciate.

The project entailed the placing of shoulders on both sides of the road, this part of the work was carried out by the Department of Public Works. The contractor then use face rocks cut from Saba rocks which were set in concrete, which then became the road surface.

The project was funded through the budget of the Public Entity of Saba and the Island Enhancement Fund. Project Management was carried out by the Planning Bureau.

At the opening of the road the commissioners took time to recognize the men that had done the work, all of Indonesian descent, and encouraged them to be proud of the work that they had done especially given the time constraints.

The Executive Council also requested that heavy equipment operators refrain from using the road and said that signs prohibiting them from using the road would be placed there in the near future.

Commissioner of Finance, Bruce Zagers has presented a balanced budget to the Central Committee for their input. The 2012 budget totals an amount of $7,982,318. In the Memorie van Toelichting or Explanatory Memorandum it is stated that this budget completely reflects the new constitutional status, with all the relevant tasks that have been taken over by the Dutch Government totally organized and fully funded by the relevant agents within that entity. With this new budget government can begin the process of enhancing  their long term planning and will continue their efforts for more efficient and timelier reporting to the Island Council and the CFT.

Vrije Uitkering (Free Remittance)

The Vrije Uitkering, which constitutes 87% of the income on the budget, is now set at almost 7 million dollars. It includes the social premiums for government workers, it also includes a structural increase for 2011, and also an additional indexation for 2012.

Issues with Vrije Uitkering

The government continues to have issues with the amount of Vrije Uitkering provided by the Ministry of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations (BZK) and have raised these issues several times with Minister Piet Hein Donner. Chief among these issues is the amount recommended by the Brinkman Report (a study issued by BZK) that did not materialize. The Ministry is once again requesting a new study a so called “referentiekader” which will set new guidelines for the amount of Vrije Uitkering. Additionally the amount of the indexation for 2012 has been based on the European model and not on the amount calculated by the Dutch Central Bureau of Statistics.

The government’s position on this is summarized in the Explanatory Memorandum and states:

“With the current level of the vrije uitkering Government is not fully able to produce a quality budget. This budget allows Government to strengthen their tasks a little bit more than in the past, maintain their properties at a minimum standard and introduce some new policies. But areas that are still lacking are training of personnel, backlog maintenance of government properties and the possibilities to build up reserves. “

Budget Allocation

Significant insight into the budget is presented with the allocation per sector as follows:

Salaries 66%

Other 14%

Unforeseen 8%

Subsidies 6%

Maintenance 6%

Policy for 2012

Included in this budget is some policy with the priority area being, the clearing of the backlog of maintenance and improvements to the island’s infrastructure with more than $260,000 being allocated to various projects. Organizations that provide social assistance and awareness will see a significant increase as well with just over $100,000 being allocated to various organizations on the island.

Control and Planning

For 2011 significant positive developments have been made in improving the financial management particularly when it comes to providing financial information. Key software upgrades have considerably increased the accuracy of the figures provided by the relevant departments especially with the implementation of an integrated personnel and salary administration system which directly links to the financial administration. This will solve a key issue discussed in the management letter of Ernst & Young. Government will work along with the accountant in 2012 to realize further improvements in the island’s financial management.

###