The States are quick to spend other people’s money

From Roger Bale.

I AM concerned and I would be interested to see if others share these concerns.

I read that the Jersey States are contemplating forward budgets running into two billion pounds. A billion pounds needs some explanation. It is in fact 1,000 million. Or, a billion minutes ago, Jesus was alive.

My first concern is that I was brought up to make money before one spent money. Because the States have the right to

demand money from people, it concerns me that the States are, by apparently putting expenditure ahead of income, putting Jersey’s taxpayers on a very slippery slope.

My second concern is the proposed capital expenditure. Based on past experience, the States are not very good at producing a practical result within a realistic budget. There appear to be two reasons for this.

Firstly, on all previous projects there always appears to be a Mister Nobody (remember him forgetting to take foreign exchange cover in respect of the incinerator project costing the taxpayer £3 million?) making an appearance.

Secondly, the purpose of the capital expenditure and the taxpayer it is intended to serve becomes lost with the result of overly expensive buildings which would only be approved by people spending other people’s money.

By way of an example, the Airport building has an overhang, which no doubt cost a lot of money. However, the overhang where passengers arrive in their cars does not allow people to alight from the right-hand side of their cars, let alone get their baggage out of their boot, on a rainy day without getting wet.

Aviation Beauport’s terminal building has a comparatively inexpensive, aesthetically pleasing passenger / car cover which enables passengers there to alight in the rain without getting wet. The difference is that Aviation Beauport, the business, was spending its own money and is dependent on the income, which its satisfied customers produce.