Island Council members may
get 30 per cent pay increase
PHILIPSBURG--The Council of Ministers informed the Executive Council of St. Maarten on Wednesday that it can increase the compensation of Island Council members by 30 per cent.
The Executive Council of St. Maarten had requested that this matter be placed on the agenda of the meeting it had with the Council of Ministers Wednesday.
Finance Minister Ersilia de Lannooy told Wednesday’s press briefing that the decision to increase the salaries of Commissioners and Lt. Governors had been taken in March 2006.
The Council of Ministers confirmed during yesterday’s meeting that based on the March 2006 decision St. Maarten can go ahead and increase the compensation for its Island Council members.
“It’s now up the Executive Council when they will apply the increase. They can start doing it by the end of this month or decide they can do it retroactively to July 1, 2007, when the members of the new Island Council were sworn in. It’s up to St. Maarten and if, within their budget, provisions can be made for the payments,” a source within the Finance Department told The Daily Herald.
St. Maarten received the green light to go ahead with the increases pending formalisation of the March 2006 decision. That decision, although taken two years ago, still needs to be forwarded to Parliament for approval.
