GOAP sale recommended
The Government has been advised to sell the Government Office Accommodation Project, and quickly. The combined Private Finance Initiative Oversight Committee/Big Four Committee recommended the sale to Cabinet and advised that Government lease the facility.
 
The PFI/Big Four committee consists of Nick Freeland as chairman, and members Carson Ebanks, Michael Ryan and Canover Watson. The Big Four part of the Committee consists of the senior partners of ‘big four’ accounting firms PricewaterhouseCoopers, Ernst & Young, Deloitte and KPMG, namely Mr. Freeland, Dan Scott, Ian Wight and Roy McTaggart.
 
The Committee report stated there were three potential options for the office project: namely retention; sale and leaseback; and sale with a lease to purchase. Besides injecting much needed cash into the government coffers, the sale and lease back would allow the government to take the asset and its liabilities off the balance sheet.

No direct taxation
The UK will not require the Cayman Islands Government to implement direct taxation as a way of getting through the current financial crisis, a delegation to London led by Premier McKeeva Bush found in March.
 
The meetings with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office discussed the findings of a three-person independent commission (Miller Commission) that analysed the fiscal problems facing the Cayman Islands Government.
 
Premier Bush submitted a three-year budget plan to the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office, attempting to get London to agree to let Cayman borrow more money in the coming fiscal year.

Miller report
The Miller Report made 12 recommendations on fiscal sustainability for the Cayman Islands. The first recommendation is that the government not impose direct taxation.
The commission found that the fiscal problem in the Cayman Islands was too much spending, not too little revenue. The independent study recommends increasing the number of foreign workers in the Cayman Islands as a way to boost government revenues.
 
Adding 1,000 work permits within the next five years in skilled and top professional categories would eventually earn up to $12.5 million a year in additional permit fees for government, the report stated.
 
The report recommended the restructuring of six separate government agencies, as well as the divestment or sale of numerous government-owned agencies or assets, including Cayman Airways, Owen Roberts Airport, the government office accommodation project, and the sewerage system.
 
Among the agencies the report said should be restructured, which means outsourced or sold, were the Department of Tourism, Computer Services, the National Pensions Office and Radio Cayman.

Fixed civil service salary budget
Following the Miller report Premier Bush revealed plans to limit civil service spending in the next budget year beginning on 1 July.
 
Mr. Bush said Cabinet approved giving Governor Duncan Taylor a set amount within the budget proposal – the amount was not specified by Mr. Bush – to spend on personnel costs.
Personnel costs in last year’s central government budget were approximately $250 million.
 
As far as where and how civil service jobs, salaries, health care and pension benefits should be reduced, Premier Bush said he would largely leave that up to Mr. Taylor and Deputy Governor Donovan Ebanks.

Berthing dock MOU
A memorandum of understanding has been signed between the government, the Port Authority and the Dart Enterprises Construction Company to move ahead with the planning and construction of a cruise berth dock in George Town.
 
The dock is slated to cost $150 million and to be completed by October 2012. The Port Authority will retain ownership of the port.
 
The premier berthing facility is considered a vital component in keeping Cayman’s tourism industry alive and competitive.
 
The memorandum of understanding puts forward non-binding understandings, a short exclusivity period and a confidentiality agreement between the parties.