Government Issues Citizen’s Guide to Understanding the Budget, here’s some of what each island gets

By Dana Malcolm

Staff Writer

#TurksandCaicos, June 12, 2023 – The Turk and Caicos just passed its largest ever budget at $424 Million, and residents can see the details of where the money is being spent in a newly published Citizen’s Guide to the Budget. The document was created by the team at the Ministry of Finance headed by E. Jay Saunders, Minister and Deputy Premier and Athnee Harvey-Basden, Permanent Secretary.

The 20 page booklet details the major achievements of the Government in the past year, and lays out the breakdown of how the money will be spent and how much will go to each island. In order of amount the allocations were:

Providenciales – $10.4M

• $900K Special Needs School
• $800K Sapodilla Bay Development
• $750K Furniture and Equipment for Primary Schools
• $650K to upgrade Bight Park
• $650K to renovate Fuller and Clementina Walkin Park

Grand Turk – $6.8M

• $2M for bridges, ponds and roads
• $1.5M for construction of Hangar
• $1.5M for drainage and site works at HJRHS
• $500k to renovate local GTT Village
• $250K to refurbish the Sylvia Melhado Aged Care Centre • $200K for the Veterinary Clinic

South Caicos – $2.8M

• $1.5M for enhancement and restoration of Conch Grounds airport (XSC)
• $500K for refurbishment of Sports Field
• $500K for redevelopment of Regatta Beach
• $300K for furniture, equipment and wheelchair accessible vans for the Eliza Basden Aged Care and Special Needs Centre

North Caicos – $2.4M

• $1M for the construction of the Bottle Neck Creek Community Centre
• $850K to repair the RGHS High School Block
• $500K for the refurbishment of the Horse Stable Complex
• $117K to purchase DDME equipment

Middle Caicos – $750K

$750 for the renovation of Bambarra Beach

Also listed in the guide were the Government’s priority areas for the financial year which included providing a living wage and privatization of janitorial services.

In the document, residents can see the breakdown of the areas where the most cash will be allocated (economic affairs), as well as the least (culture and religion).

While not as detailed as the budget book, it gives residents the opportunity to have physical copies of the upgrades that Ministers and MPs promised to achieve in 2023/24, and can balance their performance against that at the end of the fiscal year.