PHILIPSBURG--The Court of First Instance on Tuesday ordered St. Maarten Carnival Development Foundation (SCDF) to pay NAf. 35,860 in unpaid rent for its use of Jocelyn Arndell Festival Village during last year’s Carnival.
Stichting Overheids Gebouwen (SOG), the foundation which manages buildings owned by the St. Maarten government, started the civil case against SCDF last October. A source close to SOG told this newspaper that SCDF has been paying the rent a year late for the past three years.
SOG sent a payment reminder to SCDF on June 24, 2024, but the carnival foundation did not clear its debt. It also did not show up in court to defend itself against SOG’s claim, according to the verdict rendered on Tuesday.
Alongside the almost NAf. 36,000 in unpaid rent, the lower court judge also ordered SCDF to pay statutory interest on the outstanding sum, starting from July 1, 2024. This means SCDF’s debt will continue to climb until the arrears are paid off.
In an invited comment on Tuesday night, SCDF President Edwardo Radjouki said that while the foundation generates enough income to cover its annual expenses, it is “weighed down by debt, much of it following the pandemic and the unfortunate tangles with unhelpful government initiatives.”
Radjouki said the government had issued permits for large-scale parties and events outside of last year’s Carnival, which had started “a chain reaction” of show cancellations and sponsors pulling their support.
“The annual fee of almost NAf. 100,000 to rent the village is already a struggle,” he said. “Add the unprecedented events of 2024 to that and you get what you have now.”
SCDF will not appeal Tuesday’s verdict, but Radjouki emphasised that the court order will not prevent this year’s carnival from continuing normally.
He said the foundation and Minister of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transport and Telecommunication (TEATT) Grisha Heyliger-Marten are currently working out an agreement for government to play “a more active role in the operations of carnival.”
