By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Public Treasury staff were "burnt out and stretched to their limits" in 2014, with the Treasurer warning that "increased absenteeism" was worsening personnel and skill shortages.

Eugenia Cartwright's blunt concerns were only revealed yesterday - almost four years later - when the Government's financial statements for the fiscal year 2013-2014 were tabled in the House of Assembly by the Minnis administration.

The financials contained an October 31, 2014, memorandum from Ms Cartwright to then-financial secretary in the Ministry of Finance, John Rolle, warning that staffing levels at the Public Treasury were "at a critically low level".

The memo reveals troubling details about internal working conditions at an agency which is at the centre of the Government's financial systems, acting as the hub around which most - if not all - incoming and outcoming payments, including tax revenues, are received and handled.

Ms Cartwright, referring to a Ministry of Finance-commissioned review of the Public Treasury's manpower needs by the PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) accounting firm, wrote: "This needs assessment review was completed, and confirmed that the manpower needed for the Public Treasury's internal operations was at a critically low level.

"This was indicated in their audit report under Section 1.3.3, Structure and Staffing, of the final report [which said]: 'There is insufficient staff with the right mix of skills in most of the divisions of the Treasury'."

Ms Cartwright added that there were staff shortages among Treasury accountants posted to other agencies, forcing the Department to establish a new organisational structure to "strengthen the officers in the field".

"The Treasury continues to experience staff depletion due to retirement," the Treasurer added. "Staff morale is low, as officers seem to be burnt out and stretched to their limits. Incidents of absenteeism via call-in days, and medical leave by officers who are normally at full attendance, have increased and are noticeable and amplify the issues created by the staffing needs.

"Further, the staff continues to complain that consistent pressure to meet deadlines with an abnormally low level of staffing required to execute crucial tasks has impacted the level and quality of production."

It is unclear whether this situation, which existed under the former Christie administration, has been allowed to persist under the present government. The Public Treasury will be a key player in the $33 million Inter-American Development Bank-financed project to improve the public sector's financial and information management systems, with the Minnis administration pledging to accelerate its implementation.

K P Turnquest, Deputy Prime Minister, said this involved implementation of "a new, modern Chart of Accounts that is fully compatible with international standards". Ms Cartwright referenced this in her 2014 memorandum, stating: "Treasury exhausted considerable efforts in restructuring of the chart of accounts, and had made much progress until the Budget process for 2014 when control was assumed by the deputy financial secretary and the project taken over by the Ministry [of Finance].'"

The Government's financial statements for the year to end-June 2014 show the deteriorating state of the public finances in the run-up to Value-Added Tax (VAT) implementation on January 1, 2015, with financial assets worth $226.444 million dwarfed by some $1.14 billion in current liabilities. Even accounting for almost $200 million in fixed assets still left a sizeable solvency deficiency.

The Government's overdraft facility with Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) stood at $91.34 million at June 30, 2014, just shy of its $100 million limit. And civil service salary deductions due for payment in July 2014 stood at some $26.421 million, highlighting how much money is removed from take-home pay to satisfy banks and other lenders.