fp Turks and Caicos

Salary increases for government jobs held by expatriates came under fire at the Consultative Forum’s meeting May 21 to review the 2012-13 budget, but government Chief Executive Patrick Boyle said the salaries are justified.

Forum Chairwoman Lillian Misick questioned the following salaries and increases for expatriate employees that she called “arbitrary and capricious” and “generous to a fault:”

• Director of Information Technology from $33,000 that was paid to a Turks and Caicos Islander to $100,000 to an expatriate
• Director of Social Development from $48,000 to $75,000
• Principal legislative drafter from $57,240 to $82,860
• Superintendent of Prisons from $57,150 to $75,000
• Engineering Supervisor paid $99,000
• Change Manager for the Ministry of Environment and Home Affairs paid $70,000

She also questioned the pay increase for the Deputy Attorney General, a Turks and Caicos Islander, from $61,020 to $100,260, and the pay for one permanent secretary of $109,160 while the others are getting $96,900.

Boyle said a pay and grading review is being led by members of the Civil Service Association, but he took issue with questions about the pay of expatriates.

“This is always an issue which is raised here, but sometimes I find quite alarming because those people who are expatriates and who are delivering essential services in our hospitals, in our schools and elsewhere from time to time feel that offensive, and feel alienated as a consequence of it,” Boyle said.

All have been hired in a fair process, and many were approved by the Public Service Commission, but many recruitment exercises have drawn no islanders to apply, he said.

“If we cannot fill those posts from within TCI, then that is a problem,” he said. “I would welcome some suggestions from the Consultative Forum of how you might advise us to address that.”

Boyle said he has pushed for job fairs on Grand Turk and Providenciales in June to try to get locals to apply for vacant positions.

He declined to comment on specifics of individual employees’ salaries, but he made an exception in the case of Information Technology.

“The IT network in this government was in a complete shambles, and as a consequence of the investment that you’ve just described, we hope to be in a position where we actually have a system which civil servants can use,” Boyle said.

“It doesn’t come cheap. It costs a lot of money, and I hope to prove to the TCI taxpayer that we’ve got good value for money.”

The new budget includes significant increases in expenditure for computer licences, software and maintenance fees to become fully compliant with software licence agreements, according to Permanent Secretary of Finance Anya Williams.

Misick also asked why the government has such an aggressive plan to cut spending and increase taxes and fees to reduce debt when the same type of measures have met with strong opposition in European countries like France. She suggested taking more time to reduce debt to free up money to spur economic recovery.

Chief Financial Officer Hugh McGarel-Groves said it is especially important for a small country to “operate on a sound financial footing.” The longer it takes for the TCI to eliminate debt and stop deficit spending, the longer the U.K. will keep financial control over revenue and spending decisions by an elected government, now projected to last until 2016, he said.

Misick suggested using some of the millions of dollars in contingency surpluses in the budget to reduce fees across the board and relax the burden on small businesses.

Williams said the contingencies are essential to pay for unexpected expenses that could derail the balanced budget. If that money is not used, it could be spent on other areas or used to reduce fees as Misick proposed, but Williams suggested waiting until after the end of the first or second quarter of the year to see how the budget is fairing before making those changes.

In a prepared statement about the budget, Williams said the budget does not add any new taxes or anticipate any increases in current taxes. However, she said the Ports Authority will be implementing a combination of new fees, increases in fees and expenditure reductions.

His Excellency the Gov. Ric Todd signed the budget into law May 23, but no changes were made to the budget as a result of suggestions made by forum members.

The budget had not been made public at press time.

Click here to read Williams’ statement on the budget

Click here to read statements from permanent secretaries on spending priorities