Curtailing spending
Finance Grant Gibbons will put the brakes on Government spending. That would be a logical thing to do in an election year but we doubt that he will curtail Government expenditure as much as many members of the public would like him to. There are strong indications today that at a time when the retail and hotel sectors are suffering and doing their best to curtail their costs, they would like to see Government engage in the same process.
It is true that the economy is very good, inflation is down and the international company sector and the construction companies are booming but that is not the entire story. The economy is lopsided. That means that the hard core Bermudian sector is looking for Government to set a standard for economising.
There can be little doubt that this will be an "election budget''. The Minister of Finance will inevitably try to please the people because of the election. We can probably expect some breaks but not the major revamping of the tax structure merchants have been hoping for because the tax structure study is not yet complete.
We think the Minister will have to keep public perception of Government spending in mind. The fact is that there is a public perception that the Civil Service is bloated. Yet individual Government departments often argue that they are understaffed. There is also a constant public call for increases in social services in terms of such things as rehabilitation in prison, child care, extra help with education and drug and alcohol rehabilitation. To meet that call requires staffing.
Perception, of course, becomes reality to the public and there is a perception of waste in some areas. Many people today question the need for such heavy staffing at the Ministry and Department of Education, especially now that there are only two Government secondary schools and both of those are vested in trustees who do a great deal of work. Letters to the Editor tell us and should tell Government that people expected cuts after CedarBridge opened.
Remember that a very high proportion of Bermuda's children and young people are in private schools, probably one of the highest percentages in the world.
It may be that what Government needs to do is explain the Education staffing.
There may be valid reasons for what appears to be very high numbers, yet the public does not know those reasons. Many people would like to see less administrative staff and greater concentration on making sure that the students do not pass through the system with such things as poor reading and maths skills.
A Finance Minister's job is never an easy one because you cannot please all of the people all of the time. Yet there is no doubt that Bermuda has had a series of very successful people in the post and they were largely responsible for today's enviable standard of living. Dr. Grant Gibbons is no exception.
Indeed one of the things which concerns the public most is that if the Progressive Labour Party comes to power it will not produce an able Minister of Finance to manage the economy and maintain the high standards Bermudians have enjoyed for a very long time.