By FAY SIMMONS

Tribune Business Reporter

jsimmons@tribunemedia.net

Long Island residents have been without water services for days due problems with the island’s reverse osmosis plant, their MP told the House of Assembly yesterday.

Adrian Gibson, speaking during the mid-year Budget debate, said Long Island has been neglected under the Davis administration, citing deteriorating infrastructure, damaged roads, delayed clinic renovations and an ambulance that has become a nesting place for wasps due to inactivity.

He said the projected $75.5m Budget surplus projection is“fluff” if it does not address the Government’s outstanding debts and facilitate the needs of citizens.

“What good is a Budget surplus if ambulances are parked up and rotting and clinics aren’t open? Core services continue to deteriorate. Delivery remains broken. Surpluses demand an almost perfect execution. The surplus is only real when all bills are paid. Until then, this is Budget fluff,” said Mr Gibson.

“You cannot run a government on projected optimism. You cannot feed families with forecasts. You cannot pay nurses and teachers with confidence and future execution. Vendors are still begging to be paid. If you claim a surplus, prove line by line reconciliation, publish the unpaid bills.”

Mr Gibson said business confidence is down and questioned how the Government will meet its projected fiscal surplus if they have not hit this year’s deficit target and have multiple outstanding bills.

“Inflation is up, business confidence is down. The Bahamian people are not fooled. Revenue, according to the Government, has risen to $2.5bn, but spending is also up by nearly $300m. [I’m] talking about salaries, contracts, consultants, political appointees and, prior to the mid-year Budget, the Government came in here, demonstrated to us that they ran a $395m deficit and accrued over $122m in unpaid bills. So I think all of us were surprised to hear about a surplus. That was just a few months ago,” said Mr Gibson.

He criticised the Davis administration for not investing in “long-term reform” and choosing to spend more money on “optics” and travel than social and health initiatives. “Where is the Family Island Development Fund? It was announced, then reannounced, but it’s still not delivered,” Mr Gibson added.

He said the Budget is a “rerun of press conferences and recycled promises” and does not address the current issues faced by the public.

“Let me be clear, this Budget was built on projections, not performance, on spin on paper over reality, not the painful truth. This is not a reformist budget. This is yet another stop-gap Budget dressed in PR glitter. Not a single line item speaks to the long-term reform,” said Mr Gibson.

“You see no restructuring of the public corporations, no modernisation of pension for government pension plans, no public sector performance management system, none of these things. This is a government that governs by optics. The Budget isn’t a road map. It’s a re-run of press conferences and recycled promises.”