Are the States asleep at the wheel?

Tuesday 28th September 2010, 3:00PM BST.

From Karl Renouf.
SO the states want to make cuts and help fill the £50m deficit.

Ok, let’s look at this. School milk costs £183,000, Durrell entrance costs £33,000 – these are important to children and our local businesses.

Jersey milk makes money (local business) and children get their carton of Jersey milk – great for young bones.

Durrell just got out of a financial crisis and now the states want to take £33,000 away. But they can give the finance sector £400,000.

Is it just me or is this government falling asleep at the wheel? Let’s look at this again. They want iPads, which cost a lot of £££s, they want paid lunches, again lots of £££s, high wages, pay rises, expensive flights here there and everywhere…what’s going on?

If I gave my boss an expenses list the same as a States Member I’d not only be sacked on the spot, but I’d be made to pay every penny back. There’s an idea.
How about we make the States Members pay it all back. They’re paid enough to do so.

1
Flymo

September 28, 2010 at 6:10 pm

Somehow I feel that the States know exactly what they are doing.
The problem is that we don’t.

Report abuse
2
joker

September 29, 2010 at 4:44 pm

Reading letters like this it’s a relief not everything comes down to a referendum or a petition.

For starters milk in schools was nothing more than a tax payer subsidy to the dairy industry which frankly needs to learn to support itself like every other business does without an annual handout of £183,000. Playing the ‘think of the kids’ card has no basis either. In this day and age milk is all but redundant at providing children with any health benefits.

The reason why “those at the wheel” are giving £400,000 to the finance sector is simple: it generates more than 50% of the Islands revenue, or put another way – more than every other industry combined. Compare that to the return of 1% generated by the agriculture industry, including dairy, and you can quickly see that as a return on investment we get far far far less for our £183,000 than we will for our £400,000.

This is important because finance effectively pays for more than 50% of the cost of the public service, about £300m of the total bill. £400,000 for £300,000,000 return is a bargain don’t you think? Alternatively we could save the £400,000, let the Island’s main industry decline and find the £300m (including the £183,000 for the school milk) from somewhere else. Answers on a post card…

Report abuse