Minister Ardwell Irion
PHILIPSBURG--Current and previous ministers have backed an initiative to support St. Maarten’s recovery in light of the global coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic by agreeing to a ten per cent salary cut.
Minister of Finance Ardwell Irion recently sought and received the support from his colleagues in Parliament and the Council of Ministers. Irion had presented an initiative as far back as February, that expressed solidarity with the people of St. Maarten by the top officials of the country.
“All signatories agreed that legislation will be established to regulate the contribution towards the pension of political authorities and that as of April 1, 2020, pending the formalisation of the legislation as mentioned in the previous point, the salary cut will go into effect,” Irion had said in a recent press release. “Together with the approval of the 2020 budget, all requirements to receive the 2019 liquidity support will be met.”
St. Maarten has since received the promised 2018 and 2019 liquidity support from the Netherlands.
Irion said taking into consideration that after the destruction caused by Hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017 St. Maarten is in the process of rebuilding, that resources necessary to rebuild are scarce, that national and international efforts made towards rebuilding the country are recognised, and that political authorities recognise the need to seek alternative solutions to funding the recovery and rebuilding efforts, an alternative is found in a pension regulation for political authorities of which the benefits are charged to the budget of the country.
