By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The newly-elected Minnis government has been urged to adopt a “zero sum” approach to next week’s Budget, with every department and ministry having “to justify every single cent” they demand.

Robert Myers, a principal with the Organisation for Responsible Governance (ORG), told Tribune Business that all public sector agencies, especially heavy loss-makers such as ZNS and Bahamasair, should be required to “justify your existence”.

He suggested that the likes of ZNS be privatised through management or employee led buy-outs, and added that with a $7 billion national debt and $300 million-plus annual deficits, the Government had to send the signal it was not Budget ‘business as usual’.

Urging the new government to adopt private sector budgeting and management techniques as a first step towards tackling the fiscal crisis, Mr Myers acknowledged that it was “very difficult” for any administration to put its own stamp on the Budget in just three weeks.

“If it were me going in there, I would start from zero,” he told Tribune Business. “There’s an adage in the corporate world: Zero sum budgeting.

“Rather than say how much you spent last year, and how much you need this year, ‘zero sum’ means you’ve got to justify every single cent, and cent of spending, and how that delivers value for the end-user.

“That’s tough, but somewhere between there and a normal Budget is what needs to happen, as the Government is clearly overweight and inefficient, and not serving the customer well, which is the public.”

The incoming administration will have inherited the former Christie government’s Budget, which will have been prepared by the Ministry of Finance’s technical team as well as senior officials at the major ministries and departments.

With just three weeks between the general election and May 31 Budget presentation in the House of Assembly, the new government has limited time in which to ensure the 2017-2018 Budget reflects at least some of its policy priorities and legislative agenda.

Still, Mr Myers urged it to focus on perennial loss-makers such as the Broadcasting Corporation of the Bahamas (BCB) and Bahamasair, which typically suck around $30 million in annual subsidies combined out of the Public Treasury.

“In some areas where we’re losing millions of dollars a year, ZNS being one of them, I’d go back in there and say: ‘You’re costing us a fortune, and what service is the public getting from this entity?’” Mr Myers told Tribune Business.

“I would start with a zero sum Budget; how do you think you will keep your doors open, and how will you get results? Do the same with Bahamasair. What is it you’re providing? You have to justify your existence and justify your Budget.”

Mr Myers added that there was “a bunch of places” where the Government should implement ‘zero sum Budgeting’, and suggested it could even “highlight the opportunity” for certain functions or agencies to be outsourced, privatised or run as a private-public partnership (PPP).

He argued that ZNS was but one example, where an employee or management-led buyout would enable staff “to work for themselves as opposed to the Public Treasury”.

Questioning why the Government felt the need to own a television and radio station, especially with so many private sector competitors present, Mr Myers told Tribune Business: “What the new government should be focused on is to go back in and say: ‘We’re not going to do it that way’.

‘You’ve got to justify your existence, justify your cost. Just because you spent $5 million last year doesn’t mean you’re getting $6 million this year. You’ve got to justify each line item of your Budget.

“That’s the responsible thing to do. That’s what we do in business, and things like, it to run a business more efficiently, create economies of scale, work together to eliminate gaps and create better purchasing power,” Mr Myers added.

“That’s how we do it in business, and that’s the same way the Government’s got to do things. There’s not a system for the Government and a system for the rest. That’s how we budget, to keep yourself lean and mean, and the Government does not have the money to waste. Every cent is worth fighting for.”