By LYNAIRE MUNNINGS

Tribune Staff Reporter

lmunnings@tribunemedia.net

MONTHS after the budget debate, Bahamas Public Parks and Beaches Authority executive chairman McKell Bonaby still has not explained why his agency overspent its 2024/2025 allocation by $7m or how the extra funds were used, instead telling reporters yesterday that the matter was a simple case of government “reallocation.”

“It may be a matter of semantics, but the fact of the matter is, when we get to the midterm budget, the government decides what it wants to do in terms of reallocation,” Mr Bonaby said. “I don’t view it as an overspending exercise.”

The Authority was allocated $24m for the fiscal year but had spent $31m by March 2025. Mr Bonaby made no mention of the authority during his budget contribution earlier this year, instead attacking the Free National Movement and its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The silence is notable not only because the past fiscal period marked the second consecutive year of overruns — the Authority spent $33.2m against a $24m allocation in 2023/2024 — but because Mr Bonaby himself once criticised budget overruns. In 2021, after the Minnis administration’s pre-election budget hike pushed the Authority’s projected spending from $15.2m to $37m, he said the move looked like “electioneering.” At the time, he said: “It looks like it. It walks like it. It sounds like it. And we can see the impact of it, where it was not a real financial decision that was being made. It appears to be a political decision.”

A recent social media campaign by the Nassau Guardian has highlighted cracked and uneven tiles, rotting benches with exposed nails, broken swings, rusted playground frames, collapsed slides, and unsanitary bathrooms at various parks around New Providence.

Pressed about these conditions against the backdrop of a budget overspend, Mr Bonaby acknowledged the neglect but blamed years of deterioration. “The fact of the matter is the buck stops here,” he said. “And the fact is that we’ve had parks that have not been kept for more than a decade, some as far back as 20 years. We knew that coming in, and so we’re now approaching it steadily, and the focus has been to get on those parks as soon as possible, and so you should see some things happening before the end of the year aggressively.”

The Authority, he said, oversees more than 220 public parks in New Providence, along with every beach, roadside and verge. He added that under the former administration, some areas “were not touched at all during a COVID period, when persons were being paid.”

Since 2021, he said, the authority has introduced reforms: new ride-on mowers, weed wackers, chainsaws and other equipment; in-house mechanics; a new fleet of vehicles; and relocation to a modern headquarters with storage and a standby generator. He touted improved staffing in finance and accounts, the enforcement of procurement procedures, the creation of a Family Islands division, certification and training for 80 percent of staff, and the introduction of security officers and bathroom attendants.

He added that lifeguards have been hired, bathroom facilities upgraded, and corporate sponsorship secured for roundabout maintenance. He said a media tour will be arranged to show the improvements.

Responding to suggestions that media pressure spurred recent upgrades to parks, he said: “The fact of the matter is this, I want there to be context. That context is 220 parks we are responsible for maintaining every single beach, every single road, every single verge, and so within the context of that perspective, we know that the Authority is doing exceptionally well in performance. So, it is quite easy to pick on one or two spaces. There has been work done in Garden Hills. There has been work done in Jubilee Gardens. Several bathrooms have been renovated. But I’m not in the business of coming here and simply saying, take a look at this. We want to look at what has not been done. The buck rests with us, and we’re going to get the job done.”