March 9, 2016

Mr. Cuba. You are right.

Hon. Marc A. R. Bean: Mm-hm.
Mr. Chairman, these performance measures,
again, they reveal either of two trends —one, more
Bermudians are sick and tired of this so- called go vernment. And they are going to Ms. Woolridge’s office
to register in anticipation of a general election, similar
to what they did on February 4
th in the by -election for
constituency 13. We all know how that ended up, in
spite of their best, or maybe worst, efforts. That could be a trend.
But it also could be a trend or a reflection of
the entire Bermudian policies that are being pushed or
forwarded by what appears to be an anti -Bermudian
non-elected Minister, supported by the Master himself.

Dr. the Hon. E. Grant Gibbons: Point of order, Mr.
Chairman.

Thank you.
Honourable Member, you have the floor.
Please proceed.
Hon. Marc A. R. Bean: Yes.
Again, the anti -Bermudian policies by an anti -
Bermudian government. Okay? Maybe this measure
is a reflection of a trend where more people are being
added to the voting roll who previously did not have
that privilege to be added to the voting roll. But I would
like clarity from the lovely Parliamentary Registrar as
to what do these trends indicate? Or what do they r eflect? Because certainly, when you see a jump from 1,000 in one year to 2,000 the next year , something —
something is afoot.
And to be honest, I look forward to the r esponse from the Parliamentary Registrar because nothing these folks on this side can say to me could
make me believe or trust them —nothing. But I certai nly trust my civil servants.

1300 9 March 2016 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly [Inaudible interjection]

Hon. Marc A. R. Bean: You all can ramp up the temperature all you like, you know. Trust me. That is right
in my element. I do not mind that.
Mr. Chairman, we would like to know why, a
simple explanation. I suspect that it is a combination
of both. Right? You have more Bermudians sick and
tired of this anti -Bermudian Government. Then you
have more non- Bermudians becoming status Berm udians all of a sudden because of this anti -Bermudian
Government’s anti -Bermudian policies.
Mr. Chairman, I would now like to move on to
page B -28, Internal Audit. Just a few things that I noted, a simple note— it says on pages B -28 and then B -
29, when you look at those two pages, it shows that
the original budget for Salaries in 2015/16 was $1.327
million, with 14 staff. And it was revised for that fiscal
year downwards by $1,000. But what stood out to me
is that the staffing levels, when you look further down
the page and look at employee numbers for full -time
equivalents, that budget [for]14 persons w as allocated
$1.327 million. But then we see that 10 . . . and then
you see 10 employees, the revised figure. But the r evised figure was only down by $1,000.

Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Point of clarification.

Thank you, Minister, for the clarific ation.
Hon. Marc A. R. Bean: Okay. I appreciate that expl anation. But if there are two fewer instead of four and
the revised budget was $1,000 less, but this year you
have 12 full -time employees who are estimated, but
the budget is $1,070,000, or 19 per cent, $257,000
less, so again, that still, even though the Premier has provided an explanation, it is still a little confusing.
Okay? The numbers do not add up. But I am open to further clarification; no problem.
I would like to move on and turn over the page
to B-30, Internal Audit, Performance Measures. There
is a performance measure that says, Number of sur-prise compliance to Financial Instructions reports i ssued for cash or purchase orders. I like the idea, if I
am accurate as to what this type of activity is. I like the
surprise visits, because that is what I think internal audits should do. I would think that is part of thei r job,
to just roll up on unsuspecting Members of Gover nment and make sure that they are compliant in various
aspects.
But I would appreciate a further clarity as to
what this represents. How does it actually appear in practice? Does the lovely staff of I nternal Audit determine, not arbitrarily, but let us say, Tomorrow, we are
going to go to the Department of Works and Engineer-ing and go to their controller or go to their key personnel and conduct a surprise compliance [audit] to F inancial Instructions reports ? I am not sure what it represents, but I would appreciate clarity for clarity’s
sake.
And the other performance measure that
stood out to me under Head 92, Internal Audit, page B-30, are these two measurements that say, The
number of management recommendations issued and
the number of management agreed actions impl emented by agreed date. And if you look at those two
measures, you will see a gap of approximately 66—66
between the number of recommendations issued and the number of actions that have occ urred.
Now, I bring that to the attention of the Honourable Chamber because I would think one of the most important tasks that the Department of the Internal Audit has is to identify shortcomings, to identify . . .
I think the Premier mentioned financial risk, compl iance risk, operational risk —and I say “risk ,” but these
are in the form of audits —and information technology.
So, if the Internal Audit, which is our number -one
watchdog— you look at the mission statement and the
objectives of this department, y ou will see just how
important it is to good governance. Maybe that is one
of the reasons why the former Premier, the Honour able Paula Cox, created the Department of Internal A udit.
Yet, where the rubber hits the road is these
recommendations that come fr om this department
across Government. There were 330 recommendations made. And I doubt —I doubt any of those re commendations were frivolous. I doubt it! I am sure that
the Department of Internal Audit made those recommendations because they identified weaknesses in
the operation of government. Yet we see that 66 out of those 330 recommendations have not been actioned. I would like to know why. I would like to know
why. I am sure that Members or Ministers, when they
have to speak to the Department of Internal Audit and
the recommendations are provided by the Department of Internal Audit, that the intent is to work together. But I would also think that the Department of Internal
Audit is not there to make friends of other members of
the civil service. It is not supposed to be a cushy rel ationship. When the Department of Internal Audit gives
a recommendation, I would think that we should have
expectations that those recommendations are acted upon! And so, I would like to know from, I believe it is
the Director, Ms. Foy, yes, the director, whether or not


Bermuda House of Assembly she has found that there are some challenges to her
and her staff being able to conduct their duties or ex ecute their duties.
Because in my opinion, in my opinion again,
after all the work is done in that department, the rubber hits the road when these recommendations are
sent out to say, Hey, you need to tidy up that oper ation, or, You need to tidy up that process. And so, to
see that gap is very alarming and concerning.
Mr. Chairman, I would now like to move on to
Head 98, Information Commissioner’s Office, found on
page B -31. I would like to start off by first expressing
gratitude to the new Information Commissioner and
her staff. And I also would like to note that for the final
fiscal year, the last fiscal year , the Information Commissioner’s Office actually came in $101,000 below budget. And, as far as I am concerned, the Infor-mation Commissioner deserves a tremendous amount
of accolades and encouragement. In fact, I would like
to say to the Information Commiss ioner, if she is li stening, Madam, keep up the good work. I understand
this year the budget has increased. But you actually
set the tone for how other government departments
can go about being effective without blowing through
a budget.
And so, the fact t hat I see $101,000 shift
downward from what was forecast requires us in this
House to recognise that department or that Infor-mation Commissioner’s Office.
There was one little issue on employee numbers, before I get further into the Information Commi ssioner’s remit, that showed that on page B -32, Mr.
Chairman, there is an increase of two employees —
two employees. But for some reason, I think I am missing something. Well, maybe I am not; maybe I am
not. I am sorry. I would like to withdraw that. I actually
went down the wrong line, reading the wrong notes.
There is no issue in that regard.
But there are some other issues that I would
like to raise in terms of the Information Commissioner’s Office.

[Pause]
Hon. Marc A. R. Bean: Mr. Chairman, you can recall
when the Information Commissioner’s Office was
rolled out. Do you recall, Mr. Chairman, that we had a
certain Minister of this Government who actually broke
the law in regards to the Information Commissioner’s
Act and revealed information that he was not s upposed to reveal? And subsequently, he claimed ign orance. We have heard that before from that side. Subsequently, he claimed that he did not know what to do;
in fact, the Information Commissioner actually gave a bly to this Government, you know, saying that, par aphrasing that, You know, we are just transitioning into
it, and we might not get it all right. And we can understand how people can make errors. I understand that if you are talking about the
average citizen, but I do not accept that excuse when
we are talking about a Minister of Government who
sits around the Cabinet table. But that same excuse was used when they claimed ignorance of the Minist erial Code of Conduct. And now we see, or we saw in
this last fiscal year, a piss -poor excuse when we saw
a Minister of Government break the [Public Access to]
Information Act or Information Commissioner’s Act or
whatever the Act is termed.

Thank you.

Hon. Marc A. R. Bean: Okay. But I am speaking to
the general purpose of the Information Commissioner’s Office as contained on page B -31. Okay? And I
was saying just now that we have already seen hi ccups with this process. Right? Hiccups created by no other than Ministers of this Government. That is not
even funny! Because, well, let me ask my Shadow
Minister and Attorney General, ignorance is no defence?

[Inaudible interjections]
Hon. Marc A. R. Bean: Ignorance of the law is no
defence?

You would know that. You would
know.

1302 9 March 2016 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly [Inaudible interjections]

Hon. Marc A. R. Bean: Oh, I see. I see this Premier,
who has never been elected, really chirping. But yet,
when it was his turn to speak, have you ever heard him say anything of substance in the last three years
of Parliament? None! None! He has nothing to offer,
Mr. Chairman, except to try and distract.
[Pause]
Hon. Marc A. R. Bean: Another item in terms of the
overall objectives of the Information Commissioner’s Office which, in my view, has made a mockery of this
process, is we have seen over the last few months the Government refusing to answer parliamentary questions regarding this airport agreement. We have been
told that the schedules have been redacted. We have
been told that information contained on this agre ement is none of our business. It is confidential.

[Inaudible interjection]
Hon. Marc A. R. Bean: And it really just reveals the
blatant arrogance and disregard that this Government
not only has for the people of this country, but for the
watchdogs that have been constituted to ensure good governance! They are almost —they are almost r emoving any power through their arrogance, of these
non-ministry departments, non- ministry heads, who
most of the time answer to His Excellency the Governor. What is the sense of having PATI and an Information Office when the first two instances when the Information Officer or the Information Commiss ioner
was to apply herself and her team —you see this Go vernment either ignoring through claiming ignorance,
breaking the law, or ignoring the Information Commi ssioner, ignoring Parliament by saying that this commercial agreement is none of your business!
So I have to ask the question, Why did we
even set up an Information Commissioner’s Office if
the Government are not willing to abide by the law of
the Information Commissioner? Or is it typically —

Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Point of order, Mr.
Chair man.

Member, take your seat, please.

POINT OF ORDER
[Misleading]

Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: The Honourable
Member is misleading the House, Mr. Chairman. The
Information Commissioner, the law surrounding the
construct of the Informati on Commissioner’s Office
provides for certain information that is protected from
being made public. So it is not breaking the law when
that information is not made public. The Chairman: Thank you.

Hon. Marc A. R. Bean: What did it mean? I have no
idea what the Honourable Minister was trying to say
just now. I am absolutely clueless as to what she was trying to say. Okay? We are speaking of an airport
agreement. Okay? And we are asking simple questions through Parliament. Okay? We are asking si mple questions from Parliament. And they refuse to answer.
My Honourable Deputy Leader has made that
clear time and time again. If we cannot receive trans-parency of this airport deal, then we might as well
close the Information Commissioner’s Office up and
save the taxpayer $700 or $800 or $1,000.

Dr. the Hon. E. Grant Gibbons: Mr. Chairman, point
of order.

Yes. Your point of order is?

POINT OF ORDER
[Misleading]
Dr. the Hon. E. Grant Gibbons: I think our understanding is that the information was prov ided. As my
honourable colleague, Pat Gordon- Pamplin said, the
Act allows certain proprietary and commercial information—

Hon. Marc A. R. Bean: That is not a point of order. It
is not a point of order.

Dr. the Hon. E. Grant Gibbons: —to be redacted.

Thank you.
Honourable Member.



Bermuda House of Assembly Hon. Marc A. R. Bean: So, the meat they want is . . .
The meat on the bones is none of our business . That
is what the Honourable Minister of Economic Development and “Manipulation” is telling us. That is what
he is trying to tell us.
That is unacceptable! Okay? But it is a reflection of this arrogant, borderline- dictatorial anti -
Bermudian Government. They feel that they can do
whatever they like whenever they like.

[Inaudible interjection]
Hon. Marc A. R. Bean: One thing, the Premier, you
have such little substance. You bring hardly anything
to this House except chirping on what Magnus H enagulph tells you to chirp. And they think that they have a PR problem; they think they have a PR problem. It is not a PR problem. It is not a PR problem, Mr.
Chairman. Okay? No amount of PR can change
falsehood or convince people that you are not to be
trusted.
In fact, the only reason why they would spend
more on PR is to see how they can further deceive our people. But it is not working anymore! It is not
working anymore!

[Inaudible interjection]

Hon. Marc A. R. Bean: I am going back to the debate. I am right back on here. I am talking about transparency in the Information Commissioner’s O ffice. Everyth ing I am saying is all tied to poor gover nance, a lack of transparency! That is what it is tied to. I
mean, good gracious! What we are speaking about, information and access to information, and I must note
it does not escape me that a Commission of Inquiry
has been announced to look into activities that this
current Government has exceeded in! They are act ually going beyond and above the shadiness that they accuse our Government of doing.

Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Point of order, Mr. Chai rman.

Thank you.

Hon. Marc A. R. Bean: So, Mr. Chairman, the other
item in terms of the Information Commissioner’s Office
is page B -34, Performance Measures. I accept that
the performance measures are just forecasted and there are no performance measures for this fiscal
year. It makes obvious sense. And so that is fine. We
just look forward to next year’s report, where we will
be able to make a comparison as to the performance
of the Information Commissioner’s Office.
But I would like to end on the Information
Commissioner’s Office debate by saying this: Like the
rest of these non- ministerial heads, unless we have a
Government that has clean hands and pure hearts,
then all the fine work of these departments will be to
naught. They are being undermined. They are being undermined. So, it is either we have a Government
that wants to have clean hands and pure hearts, and
that is not going to happen, or we have to maybe look
at getting rid of the Commissioner’s Office. We cannot
have both. You cannot have both coexisting when you
have the Government, the Executive, usurping the
authority of those who answer to the Governor.

[Pause]

Hon. Marc A. R. Bean: Mr. Chairman, I would now
like to move on to the last head, as mentioned, which
should give time for ones to respond and adjourn for
lunch. Looking at Head 56, the Human Rights Commission [HRC]. Over the years, this issue of human
rights has taken on increasing importance in this country. And I think no one would dispute the fact that
the Human Rights Commission plays a very, very i mportant role. We also note and acknowledge the realignment of the HRC, a portion of which has gone to the Ministry of Community, Culture and Sports.
We also recognise the expenditure, which
represented a 9 per cent increase under cost centre
5601. And that is on page B -17, a $100,000 increase.
But wh at we did notice is missing, and I think that I
would like for the Minister or the Premier to sort it out (could be just a typo), but we do not have the emplo yee numbers, full -time equivalents, in this head. There
is nothing there. And the reason why I say this is b ecause the budget spoke to an allocation of $783,000
for salaries. But yet, we see nothing noted as to the
employees for the HRC. So I would just wait for the Honourable Minister, if she can let us know. I am sure
it is just a typo, but just for clarity’s sake, we would
appreciate it.
Now, speaking of this Human Rights Commission and noting the special role that it plays, I do
have some concerns that it, like other institutions, may become or has been used in the past and potentially
in the futur e to advance narrow, special interests.
Even though it might be said that we are doing this for
the greater good of all, I am not the person to give that
line to. I understand how the world runs. I understand
that most politics is about narrow self - or special inte rests. And so, I am concerned, Mr. Chairman, okay,
because 10 years ago, there was a clear definition in
the minds of most people of what human rights were. And then you had this progressive shift. And now,
1304 9 March 2016 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly three years ago or four or five years ag o, we saw a
lobby effort taking place, and it was called two words
and a comma. And two words and a comma, the argument then is that sexual orientation—sexual orie ntation is a human right. In other words, we need to
remove discrimination about sexual orientation. B ecause sexual orientation is a human right.
And I remember the argument back and forth.
And I remember people saying, Well, wait a minute. We are concerned that your quest for so- called human rights in this instance is actually another step
towar ds your end goal, which is saying same- sex marriage. Mr. Chairman, do you remember that debate? I
remember it vividly. And I remember people getting up
in this House and people outside of the Chamber, in
the media, saying that, No, this is not about same- sex
marriage. This is just about two words and a comma.
They were adamant that any idea that this is actually
a next step towards same- sex marriage is a conspir acy theory! Members of this Government got up and
said, No, that’s not true! The former Minister responsible, the Honourable Wayne Scott, got up and said,
No, that’s not the case! But it was all on the basis that
it is a human right.
But now today, three years later, the same
argument is being presented. And now some are sa ying that same- sex marriage is now a human right.
Three years ago, it was not! Four years ago, sexual
orientation was not! And now, all of a sudden, it is?
Huh! I remember that debate because I asked some
serious questions to those who are proponents of two
words and a comma. And to this day, I have yet to
receive a response. I have yet to receive responses to
the questions I asked in this Honourable Chamber.
What if a, b, c and d? And no one has responded to
me yet. Three years later, two words and a comma is
not even a conversation . I doubt that two words and a
comma is even raised around the board room at the
Human Rights Commission! Because that goal has
been attained.
And so, now we move on to the next target.
And we term it and give it this broad- based term that it
is a human r ight. Well, let me tell you all something.
Okay? I have a very good understanding of human
rights, a very good understanding. And I certainly understand that something that did not exist before four or five years ago, and all of a sudden just comes out
of the blue and mankind put a definition on it and they
term it as a human right does not make it a human
right! It does not. And yes, you might have some legal
minds, learned Members who, in their own self -
absorption, think that they have the power to reinterpret rules and laws and try to tell the people, because
somehow they are barristers, that the law says that
we can transition from this being a human right to
now, this being a human right.
Let me tell you something. There is not a la wyer in the world that impressive —not one. Not one can
redefine what is. That is what I do know. And so, that is why I have a problem. I see an issue with this H uman Rights Commission. If you look at the objectives, the Human Rights Commission is supposed to cover a
broad spectrum. But it seems like today the only f ocus, the primary focus, is on same- sex marriage!
When same -sex marriage was not considered a h uman right three or four years ago.
And so it begs the question, Are people genuine? Are they being honest when we have discussions
on human rights? That is the big problem I have, you
know. In fact, let me go on record. There is only one person who I know is a proponent of same- sex ma rriage in this Honourable Chamber, who has been
honest from day one.

[Inaudible interjec tion]

Hon. Marc A. R. Bean: No. It was not. It was not. It
was not M. P. Walton Brown. It is somebody else. There is only one person who was a proponent of same -sex marriage from the get -go, who says, This is
the deal. He was not calling it a human right, but This
is the deal. And you know what? To this day, the r espect that I have for that Honourable Member has be-come and is growing deeper and deeper and deeper.
You know why? Because I could care less what side
of the fence you sit on, what position you m ay take. I
respect honesty.
And for some reason, I have seen and wi tnessed a lot of cowardice in this Honourable Chamber
when it comes to real issues! And that was one of
them. There was only one Member who stood up and
said, Hey! This two words and a com ma initiative is
not about two words and a comma. It is about samesex marriage! I remember sitting in my caucus and Members saying, No, it is not about that, Leader! And
one Member stood up and said, Yes, it is. And it was
that one Member whom I must hold in the highest r egard for being honest and truthful.
See, regardless of whether some legal mind is
trained, miseducated (whatever you want to call it)
into the philosophy of anti -family, regardless of what
they say, if they come up next year and say, You
know what? We decided that we are going to call
east, we are going to call that south. And what we call south, we are going to call it west. And what we call
west, north. I do not care what they say, east will still
be east! It is not what you think. It i s what is.
And so, we find ourselves now being led down
this road, which has increased the angst amongst the
citizens towards this non- Bermudian anti -human Government, where now they have done what I thought
was impossible. They have brought the church
against them.
They have brought the same- sex lobby
against them. They have brought Immigration against
them. They have got everybody against them! You probably have not got the memo. But no one likes


Bermuda House of Assembly you! People are tired of them! People do not trust
them.
And this human rights movement towards
same -sex marriage is one of the main reasons why
people are tired of the One Bermuda Alliance. You
say one thing, and you do the other. And you say that
initially, with the intent to deceive people!

Hon. Michael H. Du nkley: Point of order, Mr. Chai rman.

Member?

Hon. Marc A. R. Bean: Mr. Chairman, Mr. Chairman,
I would take my seat again if someone wants to confirm whether the surrogate report was real or not. Was
that real?

POINT OF ORDER

Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Point of order, Mr. Chai rman.
The comments need to be withdrawn and not
the spin doctor keeps spinning.

Hon. Marc A. R. Bean: Mr. Chairman, I did not author
or pay for that report. Okay?

Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Point of order, Mr. Chai rman.

POINT OF ORDER
Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: The comments “intent to
deceive people” need to be withdrawn if he is going to
be a Leader or he is going to be something else.

We get back on track.

Hon. Marc A. R. Bean: Whether the Clerk does not
understand why or how I am tying it in —

Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Point of order, Mr. Chai rman!
Hon. Marc A. R. Bean: I am tying it in to human
rights!

POINT OF ORDER

Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Please do not bring the
Clerk into this discussion, Mr. Chairman.

[Inaudible interjection]
Hon. Marc A. R. Bean: I understand what the Clerk is
doing. I understand her job.
The Clerk: It is my job.
Hon. Marc A. R. Bean: I understand her job. Right?
But again, Mr. Chairman, Mr. Chairman. T here is an
issue of trust.

Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Point of order, Mr. Chai rman.

POINT OF ORDER

Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: I still ask for those comments to be withdrawn.
[Inaudible interjections]
Hon. Marc A. R. Bean: Well, my Honourable Member
just gave me advice. He said I should withdraw it in
here, but not outside. No, no, no. No, no. no.
You see, there is a perception, Mr. Chairman.
Right? Maybe I could reword it. There is a perception
1306 9 March 2016 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly based on past deeds and current deeds that you have
a Governm ent that does not intend to be straight
shooters with the people of this country. And that is
why the Human Rights Commission, the Human
Rights Act, that is why it is such a serious issue today. Because there has been a lack of honesty!
Was I able to bring it back around to the point
of the Human Rights Commission? There is a lack of honesty.

[Pause]

Hon. Marc A. R. Bean: And that is something that no
public relations can fix.
Mr. Chairman, the other point, the last point
that I would like to mention on Head 56, the Honour able Minister, rightfully so, said that the Government is
no longer directly involved with the selection of H uman Rights Commission. And that is absolutely the
truth. There is actually a selection committee of cit izens who determine, who interview, who becomes the
Human Rights Commission. But to claim that these
Human Rights selection committee [members] are
non-political or impartial, well, that is not true either.
Okay? That is not true.
And again, if ones think that what I am sa ying—

Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: You should know.

Hon. Marc A. R. Bean: Yes, I should know. My wife
served on the selection committee, and she was invi ted to do it this year until she realised that you had Ms.
Tony Daniels serving on there, too.
Ah.
Hmm.
No, that would not work.

No, no.

Hon. Marc A. R. Bean: No.
So for the Minister to say , Oh, we are hands
off and the Government is no longer involved, I agree.
That is true. But to claim or to say in the next breath
that that represents impartiality, well, that is not true
either. And we know that. Okay? We know that.
It is almost impossible to have an impartial
selection committee in Bermuda in the first place. But
to claim it as if it is a fact is misleading, Mr. Chairman.
We know that people who serve on that commission,
likewise those who serve on the selection committee,
as human beings have their own biases. It is normal. It is natural. And it appears that there are some who
are driving the same- sex marriage issue to the for efront of t he agenda of human rights. And that is their
right. I have no problem with people desiring to do
such a thing. But what I do ask for is honesty in the
conversation. Because unless we have honesty, then
we are going to find in three, four years’ time that there will be another redefinition of marriage and there
will be another claim that this redefinition of marriage (who knows?) might include bestiality at this point, at
that point.

The Clerk: Excuse me.
Mr. Opposition Leader, let me just guide you
accordingly. Okay?
What we are considering are the estimates.
Okay? Meaning the numbers. I believe the Chair has
given you some leeway. Or if you can particularly tie it in with the heads or with the performance measures, if
you can tie that in, then that is fi ne. Some of the
comments are way outside of the measurements and
the actual expenditures and the programmes and the
line items. Some of those comments should be made
in the general economic debate. Okay? That is what you should do.
This is a guidance for everyone who is preparing budget briefs. Thank you.

Hon. Marc A. R. Bean: Thank you, Madam Clerk. I
humbly disagree. The reason why I say that, Madam
Clerk, is because if you look at page B -17, you have
the mission statement and the department objectives.

The Clerk: Well, therefore, would you please guide us
to those pages when you are talking about those
items? Because I did not see that.
Thank you.

Hon. Marc A. R. Bean: Madam Clerk, maybe you
may have stepped out (respectfully), but I have a lready stated that I was on page B -17 when the
Chairman asked me what I was referring to.

The Clerk: Thank you.
[Pause]

Hon. Marc A. R. Bean: So I understand her. No pro blem. Every time we have these discussions on the
Cabinet Office or non- ministry heads, people’s anxiety
raises. It gets raised. I understand. I understand.
But, Mr. Chairman, I will close by again expressing my gratitude to the directors and controllers
and executive directors, or the Parliamentary Regi strar for the fine work that they continue t o do. I could
imagine that much of the work that you do, usually people do not take note of until it is time for an election, or until the auditor’s report comes out and people
start crashing in, you know, What happened to the
money?
And I am referring to the Executive Director of
the Human Rights Commission when there is an issue
over same- sex marriage or something else. It is not
easy. And you cannot be friends of all, especially
those of you who operate and work within these nonMinistry heads. Your job is not to be friends with an yBermuda House of Assembly one. Your job is to be good stewards, to be watc hdogs.
And now, more than ever, I am sure you have
seen for yourself and the public have heard for themselves that the type of leadership we have in this
country today requires watchdogs. It requires som eone to ensure that there are clean hands and pure
hearts operating in this Government. Now more than
ever—in fact, it might be important to have a watc hdog for the watchdogs to make sure that they watch
the Government.

An Hon. M ember: The watchdogs must have been
sleeping for the last 14 years.

Hon. Marc A. R. Bean: Yes, well, it has been a lot of
chirping, Mr. Chairman. Right? But again, I stand
without embarrassment to myself or my family.
I appreciate the members, the civil s ervants
who have come. And I hope that we might be able to
wind up by lunch and so you do not have to return
after lunch, and you can go be more productive.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

Yes, but I have a question.
And the answers can all come together.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.
On the Head 63, page B -20, I would like to
ask a question as it pertains to line item 73017. I think
this is where it fits. In terms of voting research, if that
pertains to the research that is being done in terms of
the absentee voting and what have you, I would wonder whether or not the allocation there is sufficient for
the Parliamentary Registrar to be able to—

[Inaudible interjection]

For the Parliamentary Regi strar to be able to make certain that, I guess, param eters are in place to ensure that, should we go down that ro ad or when we go down that road, it minimises
to a very large degree the ability to have fraud taking
place, because we hear from other jurisdictions. And
we have seen, if anybody has paid attention to the
international arena, that when it comes to absente e
voting and the like, there are many incidences of fraud
taking place.
In that same category, I guess this is one of
my pet peeves. I would also like to know —and actually, it may fall under the Administration, 73000, ma ybe— what is being done to ensure th at a proper parliamentary library is put in place? Because when it comes to elections and any type of reform that takes place, we must ensure that there is an accurate, a
proper recording of everything that takes place so that
history can be adequately ref lected. And for those
who have an interest in elections, electoral reform and
the like, they have somewhere, a resource, where
they can go and get the necessary information. I just
wanted to put those questions out there for the Parliamentary Registrar for the Premier to answer.
And the only other area that I would like to
speak to, under the Head 92, is Internal Audit. Again, serving on the PAC [Public Accounts Committee], I
would ask if there is a concerted effort being made to
ensure that whatever reco mmendations do come forward, whether it be from the PAC committee or
whether it comes from the Internal Audit themselves,
that there is compliance on the side of civil servants, and what is being implemented. so that we can see
one day that the records and the accounting records
and the like are done to a sufficient level where it allows for the Auditor General herself to be able to do her reporting in time.
So on those two, what I see are those few
very important questions, I will take my seat.

The Chair man: Thank you.
The Honourable Minister Gordon- Pamplin,
you have the floor.

Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Thank you, Mr.
Chairman.
Mr. Chairman, I am going to very briefly pr ovide some responses. I am going to start on Internal
Audit, Head 92, page B -30. And the honourable O pposition Leader asked the question respecting the number of management recommendations issued and
the number of management agreed actions impl emented by agreed date. And it is important to understand that 330 recommendations were made. The
recommendations will be followed up by the Depar tment of Internal Audit based on the management’s
action plans and their progress to ensure that the recommendations are implemented.
So it will be done on a stage and a time basis.
So you will not necessarily have 330 recommendations being made and 330 recommendations being completed and fully implemented. Some of them will
take longer than others.
The other question that the Opposition Leader
asked was with respect to the number of surprise
compl iance to Financial Instruction [FI] reports. The
way that works is that surprise audits are planned and
selected based on the department’s risk assessment,
which determines which areas the staff will conduct
surprise FI compliance audits.
I just wanted very quickly, because I do wish
to allow some time for the Premier to respond to other areas. But I wish to respond to the area of the Human Rights Commission. And in terms of the selection of
1308 9 March 2016 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly the Human Rights Commissioners, I mentioned in my
brief that it i s done by a selection committee. The
Honourable Opposition Leader believed that it was
difficult to have any lack of personal bias.
Well, there is no . . . you know, every situation
that we ever encounter has some personal bias. But I believe that the Hono urable Member defeated his own
argument when he said, in fact, that somebody close
to him was invited to sit on the committee, which
shows that, from a Ministerial perspective, in choosing
the person responsible, the chairman of the selection committee, th ere certainly is no bias. And that chai rman of the selection committee reaches broadly and
far in order to ensure that the selection committee is
properly constituted such that the members who are invited to join are also across the spectrum of our
communi ty.
I think it is important also to say that the Honourable Member felt that there was some . . . that the
department . . . (Let me just grab my notes here.)

[Pause]
Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: With respect to
the FTE [full -time equivalent] head count. And I did
mention in my brief the head count (it seems as
though it has been left off of the Budget Book), but I did mention in my brief that the head count is now
eight, as during 2015/16, because there was the abolishment of four posts. So there wer e 12 before. And
$738,000 is what has been allocated to salaries
[which is] a decrease of $478,000 from the year before, based on the fact that those positions have been moved out of the department into the Human Rights
Commission. So that was the reason, and those numbers have actually, as I noticed, been left off. And I did
not notice that initially. They have been left off of the
Budget Book.
But it is important also to note that the issue
with respect to the commissioners, let me just say that
the Opposition Leader seemed to believe that there
was some sort of sinister approach and attitude t owards the commission and the commissioners. And I
think it is important —I read it in my brief, but I think it
is important to reiterate that the commission’s visio n is
a community that honours and protects human rights
for all. As conferred by section 14 of the Act, the functions of the Human Rights Commission are to encourage an understanding of the fundamental rights and
freedoms of the individual, guaranteed by C hapter 1
of the Constitution. That is their mandate. That is the ambit under which they operate.
So, to suggest that there is somehow som ething sinister that is going on, the Honourable Member
has to understand, too, that the two words and a
comma to whic h he specifically referred started a long
time before this Government came into office. We had
that motion that was brought by a previous Member of
the PLP Administration years before this Government came into office. So to suggest that there is something
sinister about the Human Rights Commission or about
the commissioners and about any deliberations, all
this commission wants to be able to do is to ensure
that there are human rights for all.
And I think that it is important also just to rei terate the ot her areas where the commission and the
Human Rights Commission stand and the focus of their deliberations and their purpose. And it is to pr omote an understanding of and acceptance of, and in compliance with the Act, to develop, conduct research and arrang e educational programmes designed to
eliminate discriminatory practices; encourage organisations and individual persons to carry on activities
which will attract all members of the community wha tsoever; to encourage and coordinate any activities which seek to forward the principle that every member
of the community is of equal dignity and has equal
rights.
That is enshrined in the Preamble to the H uman Rights Act. And I think it is important that when
somebody has a personal bias in terms of what somebody else might want to do, that person not only
has the right to his bias, but the person against whom
he is biased has the right to their position. And when
we consider the balancing rights of individuals under
Human Rights, I think it is important to underst and
that that is the function of the Human Rights Commi ssion.
And I just wanted to make those points. And
with that, I will take my seat and allow for the Premier
to respond.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Chairman, firstly I just wanted to get up
and thank the Parliamentary Registrar for all the work that they have done, as I am sure it is a lot of work.
And I feel that they should be thanked for the work
that takes place.
I just quickly want to address the Opposition
Leader’s comments with regards to why more people are registering closer to election. And y ou know, I
heard him make comments and remarks with regards
to people registering close to the by -election. And it
was because, I believe he said something along the lines of people were getting a little tired of the One Bermuda Alliance Government. But wh at I can imagine is happening, Mr. Chairman, was the simple fact
that between elections, when elections are held, and
the by -elections or elections are called, more people
are registering as a result of people turning 18 throughout that time period, leadin g up to those elections.


Bermuda House of Assembly So, you know, I cannot rest on the Opposition
Leader’s comment, because I remember that —

So I am just simply stating
my opinion. And I just want to say that when I turned
18, Mr. Chairman, the last thing that was on my mind
was registering to vote in the next election. There
were a number of things on my list to do at 18 years
old, and registering was not one of them. So I just
wanted t o make that clear, that in my opinion, this is
how I figured it. And that is the only piece that I want-ed to add to this debate today.

Honourable Premier. Just a reminder,
this debate is three hours. We have been two hours
and 10 minutes. Di d you wish to wind up?

Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Yes. The Opposition
Leader has said that they have no more speakers on
that side and they are willing to close down the debate
at lunchtime. I will just make a few comments.
In regards to the comments that my honour able colleague, the Junior Minister from constituency 2
made, giving her opinion on registration, I think it is
prudent to say a couple of things on that. One is that
field officers are a relatively new thing in Bermuda. I
think Members on both si des of the House will recall
that, a few years ago, the political parties had people
out in the field to register people. They were called
scrutineers, I believe. And then after that, one party or
the other brought a list back and the other party scr utinised the list. That has been changed now for the
field officers to go out and do the work they have to do.
So, obviously, I think you will see an increase
in registration going forward because they are doing more of that work. I have been informed by the Parliamentary Registrar that only a very small percentage
of the increase is due to people who have received
their Bermuda status recently.
I have a question on voting research being
done in regards to absentee balloting. Is the allocation
sufficient? I bel ieve I have been informed that it is.
The Parliamentary Registry has considered options
and will have some information for us later in the next
financial year.
There was a question on the parliamentary
library being put in place. At this stage, most of the
research will look at legal changes in policies that we
need going forward to accommodate absentee balloting. I think the information is correct. In regards to the
library, they are working on better records manag ement in order to ensure that stakeholder s have access
to all the information that goes forward.
There was a question on line item 73016,
General and By -Elections. The Parliamentary Regi strar has said that these funds will be used on the ref-erendum that we announced that would take place.
1310 9 March 2016 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly I think that answers most of the questions. My
honourable colleagues have answered some of the
questions.
Mr. Chairman, first off, I want to apologise on
behalf of the people of Bermuda for the civil servants having to listen to what I call “drivel” by the Opposition
Leader this morning, interspersed with hallucination
and misinformation, threats and fear, which I think are
inappropriate for a head committee debate to listen to
stuff like that.
And the Opposition Leader is known to talk
about clean hands and pur e hearts . Well, I think pe ople of Bermuda need to look at the meaning of clean
hands and pure hearts. As we debated the Human
Rights Commission, I find it shocking that a gentleman
can stand on the floor of this Honourable House and
talk about human rights when this Honourable Member is on record castigating women in our community.

Yes. Yes. Yes.

Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Not once, not just once in
public, but I have heard him castigate his own Members in the Honourable [precincts] of th is Chamber in
a most derogatory way. So his comments I dismiss. I
outright, dismiss those comments, because they are
nothing but grandstanding and a lack of leadership.
I also have to say we hear the hate speech
over and over again by the Honourable Member , talking about anti -Bermudian policies , and this Gover nment favours foreigners and stuff like that. Absolute
rot by the Honourable Member! He comes with no facts, not prepared for a Budget Debate today and makes it up as he goes along just to divide our c ommunity.
Yes, Mr. Chairman, I am angry. I am angered.
As leaders we should show better tact when we come to this place to debate a budget for the people of
Bermuda. There was no preparation to it, no thought
to it. It is just divide- and-conquer our community. And
it is indeed disappointing, to say the least —
disappointing, to say the least. The Honourable Member talks about honesty? Well, he needs to go look at
Webster’s Dictionary to see what honesty is all about.
Because honesty is not the trot that I heard for the last
hour and a half.
As we deal with difficult times in Bermuda, we
need to move forward. We do not need to divide and
conquer people. We do not need to throw hate
speeches out there to people. This Government enacted PATI, built the Informati on Commissioner’s O ffice, supported the Information Commissioner’s O fficer, so we could have transparency for the people of
Bermuda to come and ask for information.
And if you look at the Budget Book, you have
seen in the first year 200 inquiries have been put out
about that. That is transparency! You have to wonder
why, Mr. Chairman, you have to wonder why the former Government took 10 years and never brought it to the floor of this House to pass. Proof of the pudding is
always in the eating, and I love t o eat.
That Member over there has let himself down,
he has let his team down, he has let the people of Bermuda down. He talks about other people.
I will end on this, Mr. Chairman. We had a
shuffle in the Opposition ranks. And there is only one of them sitt ing in the House right now listening to this
debate, the Whip. Because the Honourable Whip has
to be in the House. The Opposition Leader who is
leading this debate left the House, Mr. Chairman, total disregard for the people of Bermuda and the budget.
Oh, yes, I will say it —total disregard.
We can do better than that. But it is not a surprise, Mr. Chairman. It is not a surprise. Because the Honourable Member had to juggle his front bench,
some of the most respected of that front bench, so close to the door you would think they were out the
door! I think one of them must have a seat outside the
door.
Now, Mr. Chairman, with that I move the
head. And this debate is over. I am disappointed by
the level of debate, and I hope this afternoon we can
do much better . My team will continue to lead, and we
will debate this Budget in the appropriate way.
So I move Heads 56, 63, 92 and 98, Human
Rights Commission, Parliamentary Registrar, Internal
Audit, and Information Commissioner.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

The Chairm an: It has been moved that Heads 56, 63,
92, and 98 be approved.

It has been so moved.
You may proceed.
Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Just a bit of tidying up to do before I get into
the actual briefs themselves, if you could move to
page B -216, there is a correction, so that you are
aware of the c orrection ahead of time. On page B -
216, under Subjective Analysis of Current Account Estimates, if you follow down you will see fourth in the
line there, Transport, if you follow across there is a
correction that needs to be made under the Estimates,
it says $992,000 and it should not read that. It should
be reading 3- 6-3-2 instead. And over where it gives
the dollar amount, rather than saying $1,698,000 it
should read 9- 4-2—

Sure.

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Thank you very much, Mr.
Chairman. I am indeed grateful of the time that we
have to mov e some of these seven heads, which will
begin on pages B -194 to B -221. I am taking a note of
the time.

HEAD 36 —MINISTRY OF PUBLIC WORKS HEA DQUARTERS
Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Mr. Chairman, the Ministry
of Public Works is responsible for maintaining Berm uda’s critical assets and infrastructure. In fact, Public
Works is the lead agent in delivering the infrastructure requirements upon which so many of the services provided to this Island depend on, and these include
building and maintaining:
• There are 617 roads amounting to 225 kil ometres of road surface;
• There are 170 properties maintained by the
Department of Parks amounting to over 1000
acres of land;
• There are 1,200 buildings maintained by Public Lands and Buildings with an insured value
of over $2.5 bill ion;
• There are 85 docks servicing cruise ships, cargo ships, and thousands of private ships
and yachts each year;
• Bridges, one requiring significant overhauling
this year;
• There are five reservoirs holding 2.5 million
gallons of Bermuda’s precious fresh wa ter.

But that is not all Mr. Chairman, Public Works
is also the lead agent in most of the new large “game changing” construction projects on the Island, such as
America’s Cup, Morgan’s Point, the Channel Widen-ing, South Basin, and also, as you know, worki ng on
the Swing Bridge at this time.
It cannot be overstated how critical this vast
and diverse Ministry is to Bermuda and why it is so important that every possible opportunity must be
grasped to maximise the economic benefits that the
capital expenditures of this Ministry provides. This
includes establishing private sector partnerships to
ensure continued service excellence to the public at
large and other government departments.
Mr. Chairman, we therefore must prioritise our
infrastructure facilities, not only because they are con-structed to keep Bermuda beautiful and safe, but be-cause doing so will:
• help provide the adequate capacity for future growth for Bermuda;
1312 9 March 2016 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly • it will help enhance visitors experience when
they come to Bermuda;
• And more importantly, it will help provide a
key source of job creation and economic e mpowerment going forward.

With that said, I want to thank the many men
and women of Public Works for their continued hard work over their years of service to this Ministry. Our
well manicured public lands and gardens are a test ament to their skill and dedication, and I am excited to outline to you today many of the programmes and pr ojects on which our staff have worked tirelessly to complete this year.
The budget allocation, as we move to page B194, the budget allocation to the Ministry of Public
Works is $75,390,000. That is an increase of
$1,527,000 or 2 per cent above the 2015/16 budget
found on page B -194.
Mr. Chairman, the anticipated revenue for the
Ministry of Public Works is $20,534,000, an increase
of $4,701,000, or 30 per cent when compared to the
2015/16 revenue budget as seen on page B -194. The
increase in the revenue budget is tied to the export of
electricity to BELCO, due to the installation of a new
turbine at the Tynes Bay Wast e-to-Energy Facility,
and anticipated sales of government properties by the
Public Lands and Buildings Department.
The Ministry’s Capital Budget for 2016/17 is
$47,556.000. This comprises the Capital Development
Budget of $46,714,000 and the Capital Acquis itions
Budget of $842,000.
Mr. Chairman, the Ministry’s budgeted employee full -time equivalents [FTEs] for the fiscal year
is at 709, an increase of one, as seen on page B -194.
Our mission statement, as has been stated
many times before, is: The mandate of the Ministry of
Public Works Headquarters (Finance and Administr ation) is to provide centralised support services to the
operating programmes, which includes Public Lands and Buildings, Works and Engineering, Parks, Land
Valuation, and Land Title and Regi stration.
Our programmes, Mr. Chairman:
The services provided by the Ministry of Public Works Headquarters is organised into the following
six programmes found on page B -196:
• Head Office Administration —3601;
• Accounts —3610;
• Purchasing— 3611;
• Telecommunicati ons—3612;
• Human Resources —3613; and
• Architect and Design— 3614.

Mr. Chairman, the Head Office Administration
Programme 3601, as seen on page B -196, is comprised of Headquarters Administration (including Saf ety and Health) and Central Filing. Headquarters A dministration, under the direction of the Permanent
Secretary, provides oversight and management sup-port to the entire Ministry of Public Works. It also en-sures that the Minister’s policy objectives are met and
specifically, is responsible for the implementation of
the Ministry’s Strategic Plan, yearly Business Plan,
management of safety and health matters, and nu-merous special administrative projects.
During 2015/16, the Safety and Health Office
continued to focus on identifying and controlling wor kplace h azards through internal safety audits, wor kplace inspections, and risk assessments. They con-tinue to identify areas for improvement within our op-erations. The Occupational Safety and Health Regul atory focus has been on the following sections:
• Safety and He alth Committees;
• Investigation and Reporting;
• Fire Safety and Emergency;
• First Aid;
• Sanitation;
• Hazardous Substances; and
• Protective Clothing and Equipment.
All audited sections have developed a corrective action plan and are at varying stages of compl etion. The Ministry of Public Works continues to provide
safety and health training to staff in an effort to pr omote safety, health, and well -being to all employees.
In 2015/16, the Ministry of Public Works offered a total
of 115 hours of safety training in t he following areas:
• Introduction to Safety;
• Occupational Dog Bite Safety;
• Identifying and Controlling Hazards;
• New Employee Safety Orientation;
• Confined Space Safety;
• Accident Notification and Reporting;
• Manual Material Handling;
• Fire Safety, AED and CPR/F irst Aid training.

These programme initiatives increased employee awareness regarding the hazards associated
with workplace activities. In addition, 232 employees
participated in safety training modules in 2015 as well.
The Ministry of Public Works contin ues to
conduct documented risk assessments to manage risk
that Ministry employees and the public are exposed to
as a result of our activities. These assessments will
continue into 2016.
Mr. Chairman, during the fiscal year 2016/17,
the Ministry of Public W orks will continue to develop
and strengthen its Safety and Health programme in accordance with the requirements of the Occupational
Safety and Health Act 1982 and the Occupational Safety and Health Regulations 2009.
The Ministry’s safety and health programme
will include the development of a safety and health
policy, establishment of safety and health objectives
and processes to achieve the policy commitments,
performance monitoring and management review.


Bermuda House of Assembly The second area of support under the Head
Office Ad ministration is Central Filing, which provides
Public Works records management for all Human R esource Records, Cabinet documents, Capital Projects
and Contracts, and maintains records for the Mini stry’s legislated functions.
Now the Operational Budget, Mr. Chairman.
The budget for Public Works Head Office, Administr ation Programme 3601, as seen on page B -196, recognises the multi -faceted nature of the work carried
out by this Ministry. As such it has been allocated
$1,183,000 for fiscal year 2016/17. That i s an i ncrease of $58,000 over the prior year. The increase is
attributed to the cost centre 46111, consultant fees,
related to hiring legal counsel for legal cases which
are both ongoing, and I will name the two, and they
are:
• Emmerson Donald case; and
• The Parks Maintenance case, which is ongoing.

As you know, the Emmerson Donald case has
just concluded.
And successful projects such as:
• The North Channel widening project which will
accommodate the new generation of cruise
ships.
• The South Basin Project for the America’s
Cup Event Village (which you see happening
right now).
• Morgan’s Point disposal, as well.
Mr. Chairman, the Public Works Accounts
Programme, 3610, provides the accounts payable,
accounts receivable, payroll, capital asset recording,
non-financial and financial reporting functions for the
operating departments within the Ministry. This section prepares and distributes weekly payroll, vendor
cheques, and invoices for services provided by the
Ministry’s operational areas.
Mr. Chairman, with the use of the centralised
accounting system, the Public Works Accounts Sec-tion manages the yearly budget preparation and pr ovides monthly management reports, a process that
enables the effective and efficient monitoring and co ntrol of the Ministry of Public Works operating budget of
$75,390,000 along with the Ministry’s Capital Deve lopment vote with a total value of $46,714,000 and
Capital Acquisition, as I mentioned earlier, $842,000.
Mr. Chairman, during the Fiscal Year 2015/16,
the Accounts Section focused on the following:
• Training Section Heads on techniques that
they can use in the Enterprise One (E1) financial system to more efficiently manage their
operational and capital budget, thus improving the budget monitoring by section, which is i mportant. • Focused on improvements to the management of fixed asset recording and reporting.
The Accounts Section held quarterly meetings
and training sessions with the Project Mana gers and the Vehicle Maintenance Section thus
increasing communication and providing them
with an understanding of the end results for
fixed asset reporting.
• The Debt Collection continued with delinquent
Truckers and Water Customers being placed
on the stop list for refuse and water service. The department also offered payment plans to
customers based on the Ministry’s debt collection policy, so that we are not just cutting pe ople off but giving them opportunity to work on
a payment plan.

Mr. Chairman, the Accounts Section’s focus
for the fiscal year 2016/17 will be on:
• Improving the project and work order reporting
system. This will assist Project Managers with
managing timelines and budgets, and provi ding senior management with improved repor ting, which I know some have been talking about here lately.
• Continuing to improve the Debt Collection
Process and Strategy in order to bring a r eduction in the total monies owed the Ministry.
It should also be mentioned that the vacant
Management Accountant post was finally filled March 1, 2016. This will assist with the accounting
projects that were pla nned for last year that did not
move forward due to the lack of resources.
Now, we move to the Operational Budget.
Mr. Chairman, the Public Works Accounts
Programme, 3610, as seen on page B -196, has been
allocated a budget of $939,000 for Fiscal Year
2016/ 17. That is a decrease of $44,000 from the Fi scal Year 2015/16. The budget savings relates to the
following: a vacant Trainee Management Accountant
position that will remain unfilled probably for the next six months, and reduction in software maintenance
expense.
Mr. Chairman, the Purchasing Programme,
3611, provides a centralised purchasing and supply
function to the other programmes within the Ministry
and to other Ministry’s departments from time to time.
The services provide a range from the initial res earch
of sources of supply to ordering, customs clearance,
the physical receipt of goods, and the management of
inventory for the Vehicle and Equipment Maintenance Section, Waste- to-Energy Facility —Tynes Bay, the
Water Section and the Buildings Section.
During 2015/16 the Purchasing Section had a
challenging year as a result of two vacant management positions, the Principal Purchasing and Supply
Officer and the Assistant Purchasing and Supply O fficer–Quarry. We are working to fill the positions in the
1314 9 March 2016 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly next three months, hopefully. Due to the vacancies,
the purchasing team was led by the Assistant Purchasing and Supply Officer –Headquarters. As a result
of the staff shortages, the Finance and Administration management team were tasked with reprioritising the business plan and its direction. The focus of the Purchasing Team was as follows:
• To continue process improvements and crea ting efficiencies relating to purchases. With the
application of Microsoft Visio, the team
mapped out the purchase order management and the customs clearance processes. This
allowed the team to identify gaps and duplic ations in the system, and improvements were
made that resulted in efficiencies.
• The Purchasing Team introduced the Enter-prise One (E1) Buyers Guide, which triggers an actio n to replenish the inventory stock.
This assisted with Inventory Management.
The reordering system has been a challenge
due to a manual paper -based system. The
Buyers Guide has been implemented at Pr ospect Stores –Building Section, Tynes Bay
Stores, the Quarry Stores, and Vehicle
Maintenance Section for the Garbage Truck
and Mack Truck Shops. This will allow the
Purchasing Team to better service the oper ational areas with their inventory requirements.
And I am sure that we all understand the need
for that.
• Purchasing and Procurement Training has also continued this year to ensure the Ministry is compliant with the Ministry’s policies and procedures. The training now includes a section for Financial Instructions in respect to the
Sales and Disposal of Government Assets.

Mr. Chairman, during fiscal year 2016/17, the
Purchasing team will focus on the following:
• Continuing the training of staff on purchasing policies and procedures with focus on Parks,
the Building Section, and Vehicle Maint enance Section.
• Completing the roll -out of the Buyer’s Guide at
the Quarry Stores –Vehicle and Equipment.
This will assist with managing the Inventory
levels and providing improved service to the
operational area.

Mr. Chairman, the Purchasing Programme,
3611, as seen on page B -196, has been allocated a
budget of $1,245,000 for 2016/17, a minimum i ncrease of $49,000, relating to the salary of the Purchasing and Supply Officer that was budgeted for only
six months in the prior year.
Mr. Chairman, the Telecommunications Pr ogramme, 3612, provides a suite of services to the m ajority of Government ministries and departments.
These services include the repair and replacement of telephones and related equipment, the relocation of
departments and ministries, and the management of
mobile s ervice contracts for the Ministry. The pr ogramme also provides advice to department heads regarding call flows resulting in greater efficiencies, voice network designs, and telephone system tenders;
and managing the implementation of new technol ogies to maximise cost savings.
Mr. Chairman, a few of the telephone projects
successfully completed during 2015/16 were:
• The relocation of Government offices for the
Ministry of National Security, Home Affairs,
Ministry of Public Works Headquarters and
Engineering, and Marine and Ports.
• Replacement of the complete telephone sy stem for the Accountant General.
• Replaced the standalone telephone systems
at both the junior and senior libraries with a
converged remote solution which leverages
existing data connectivity. These departments
have now realised a 75 per cent reduction in
expenditure on telephone services, which is
pretty remarkable.
• The GPS Vehicle Tracking system has been
installed and is active for the entire fleet of
garbage trucks. An initiative has been undertaken to extend this functionality to the D epartment of Parks vehicles within the current
fiscal year.
• Field testing of Desktop Communicator, a
software client that via usage of a headset
has the potential to eliminate installation of
telephone sets and i nfrastructure at smaller
remote Government offices by leveraging the
existing data network. This is also a means of
reducing operational costs.
Telephone Projects scheduled for the Fiscal
Year 2016/17 are not limited to, but include replac ement of telephone services at Department of Marine and Ports and the Ministry of Public Works –Quarry.
These locations will be migrated to the main voice
network leading to further reductions in operational
costs.
The Telecommunications Programme, 3612,
as seen on page B -196 has been allocated $1,
190,000 for Fiscal Year 2016/17. There was minimum
change in overall budget allocation.
Mr. Chairman, the Human Resource Pr ogramme, 3613, as seen on page B -196 provides r ecruitment, employee relations and training and development services for all staff within the Ministry of Pu blic Works.
The Ministry’s dedicated Human Resources
team liaises and partners with the Department of H uman Resources to provide advice, guidance, and ad-ministrative support throughout the Ministry.
Mr. Chai rman, in 2015/16 the Human R esources Section focused on continued implementation


Bermuda House of Assembly of the Human Resource Strategy. The emphasis this
year was on the Ministry’s BEFAST (Basic Employee,
Foreman and Superintendent Training Programme),
Succession Planning for di fficult -to-fill jobs and retir ements, as well as management of the Trainee and
Apprentice Programmes.
The Human Resource Team continued with
the Basic Employee, Foreman and Superintendent
Training which carries the name, as I said, of “B EFAST.” The program me is now in its third year and
has been considered to be successful by manage-ment. The BEFAST programme objectives are to advance training, create career opportunities, and build
new working relationships with peers and staff, ult imately creating a team t hat speaks the same language, resulting in providing better service to our i nternal and external customers. The details of the pr ogress of the BEFAST Programme are as follows:
• During the year we delivered a team building training course facilitated by the Department
of Human Resources (OHR) that was attended by the Industrial Staff from the Parks D epartment and was well -received.
• The Effective Team Member and Leading E ffective Teams core courses under BEFAST was delivered by Bermuda College’s Professional A dult Career Education Department
(PACE). We coordinated four courses atten ded by 55 foremen, superintendents, and charge hands, which included staff from the
Vehicle Maintenance and Operations, Parks,
Highways, Tynes Bay, Building Maintenance
and the Water Section, which were also well -
received. As of today, 108 foreman and s uperintendents have completed the Effective
Team Leading training and/or Effective Team
Member training, which they should all be
commended for, actually, that many.
• Mr. Chairman, Project Management, a core course of BEFAST, was encompassed in the training this year. Thirty -four employees i ncluding superintendents and engineers completed the Microsoft Project course. The Microsoft Project tools will empower project managers and decision- makers to manage
tasks, collaborate, to flag issues and risks, analyse resources, budgets, and timelines.

The Human Resource Section devoted time in
2015/16 to succession planning due to the Ministry’s
mature population and difficult -to-fill jobs. This ye ar a
Succession Planning Committee was formed and the criterion for identifying future talent was developed.
The Quarry Vehicle Maintenance and Operations and
Highways Sections were the main areas of focus.
Employees have been identified, development plans
are in progress, and the employees have enrolled in
the courses that will assist in preparing them for pos i-tions that will become vacant due to contract expir ation for difficult -to-fill jobs and retirements.
I will now move on to the Ministry’s Apprenti ces and Trainees.
Mr. Chairman, the Bermudians selected to
take part in the Sponsorship Programme are em-ployed as apprentices at the Vehicle Maintenance
Section, and are now receiving on- the-job training.
Dornielle Farrell, an Apprentice Mechanic, is current ly
employed in the Mack and Heil Shop where all of
Government’s trash trucks, road sweepers, cement trucks, skip loaders and tractor trailers are repaired
and maintained. Dornielle was seconded to Bermuda
Motors for a three- month period to engage in Ford
Motors training. He has successfully completed his
secondment and passed the Ford Motors exams and
he is to be commended for that. A second Apprentice, Sergio Richardson, is now seconded to Bermuda Motors to undertake Ford Motors Training.
Dajon Carey obtai ned a Bachelor’s of Science
Degree in Automotive Management and is currently
employed as a Tradesman Class 2 in the Heavy
Equipment Garage working on gas and diesel engine
machines and equipment. With his degree in hand, he
has the potential to become a future manager in the
industry.
Another —Marco Santucci completed his A pprenticeship with the Ministry in Auto Body and Spray Paint at the Vehicle Maintenance Section. He graduated from Manchester College in England with IMIAL
Level 2 and 3 diplomas in Vehicl e Accident Repair
Paint Principles (VRQ), IMIAL Level 2 and 3 diplomas
in Vehicle Accident Repair Body Principles.
Kacie Fishenden completed his Apprentic eship. He attended Cambrian College in Canada and received a Diploma for the Mechanical Engineering
Technician Industrial Maintenance Programme. He is
employed as a Millwright with the Tynes Bay Waste -
to-Energy facility.
There were also five apprentices in the Buil ding Maintenance Section, two of whom are currently attending Bermuda College. One is studyin g Electrical
Wiring and one is enrolled in the Plumbing course.
Another apprentice, Callan Che Woolridge,
graduated in May 2015 from the Electrical Wiring Pr ogramme and received an award for the most outstanding student in the programme for 2015.
Mr. Chair man, the Ministry of Public Works also has in place a Trainee Programme in which two trainees are currently enrolled. This programme f ocuses on training Bermudians for professional pos itions that are difficult to fill, such as:
1. Allanette Hayward, a former Bursary Student,
is in training as a Civil Engineer. She graduated in 2013 with a Bachelor’s in Civil Engineering with Hon-ours and graduated with her master’s in 2014. She is
currently assigned to the Highways Section and will
receive training in other civ il engineering areas, such
as Water and Waste and Structures Sections. She is
1316 9 March 2016 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly presently undertaking a public/private opportunity, as
she has been seconded to BCM McAlpine. And so
you will see her all over the Island and I do know her
personally, as I see her on a regular basis, and it is
nice to see our Bermudians moving through the ranks into these kinds of positions.
2. We also have Ricardo Graham -Ward, another
former Bursary Student, is in training as a Civil Engi-neer. He graduated in 2015 with a Master’s i n Civil
Engineering from the University of Southampton. He is currently assigned to the Structures Section and will receive training in other civil engineering areas, such
as Water and Waste and the Highways Sections. I
must also add to that that he is key in working on
Swing Bridge right now and we talk on a daily basis.
He is a very bright young man.
Mr. Chairman, in addition, the Ministry of Public Works also plays a part in the Government -wide
Bursary Scheme and we currently have one Bursary
Student, Mi guel—I am not sure I am going to get this
last name right, it has about 15 letters in it —
Vasconcelos, that was easy enough, who is stud ying—

I am sure that will be properly recor ded into the record.
Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Sorry?
The Chai rman: I am sure that will be properly recor ded into the record.

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Yes, I am sure.
Mr. Chairman, the Human Resource Team
continued its successful partnership with C.A.R.E.
Learning Centre that prepares a number of the Public Works st aff for the General Education Diploma (GED).
To date, 14 Ministry of Public Works employees have
gained their GED diplomas, and eight others are
presently pursuing the qualification. I cannot say
enough about that.
Mr. Chairman, also in 2015/16, the Career
Outreach Programme was set up to introduce st udents to difficult to fill positions such as surveying, technical, and engineering careers. The Ministry participated in CedarBridge’s Vocational Career Fair and Clearwater Middle Schools Career Fair.
In 2015/ 16, we had three students from
Berkeley’s Career Pathways Programme on day r elease. Individual students were assigned to the Arch itects, Electrical Engineering, and Accounts Sections. They each spent one day per week for 12 weeks with the Ministry.
We also had two students from CedarBridge’s
Work Experience Programme on day release at the Vehicle Maintenance and Operations Section.
The Ministry of Public Works recruitment
numbers were at the lowest in history. The Ministry currently has over 60 vacancies and due to changes in the hiring procedures, only hired seven new employees to date for 2015/16, which has, of course, its
challenges.
Mr. Chairman, the Architect Design Pr ogramme, 3614, is seen on page B -196. The objective
of this programme is to deliver A rchitectural Design
support for Government’s Capital Development pr ojects in a professional, fiscally prudent, and timely manner. Further, it provides opportunities for Berm udian graduates in Architecture and related disciplines to obtain the necessary experience and training to acquire professional designations in their fields.
Objectives established as follows:
• To administer the programme in an effective
and efficient manner, providing all required
reporting to top management within established deadlines;
• To provide all required administrative functions for the programme within allocated
budgets;
• To have all programme staff undertake at least one training and development opportuni-ty each fiscal year;
• Capital project fees less than the percentage of fees applied by the private sector;
• To deliver project Architecture Design doc umentation within established budgets through more effective Quality Management Admi nistration; and
• To provide all required technical support services so that Architecture Design will m eet established schedules set by the Project Ma nagement Plans.

Now, the total budget for the Architectural D esign, 3614, programme for the coming year is
$258,000, which includes Capital recharges.
Mr. Chairman, the budgeted head count within
the Ministry of Public Works Headquarters can be
seen on page B -198. The head count for 46040, A rchitect and Design, is to be increased by three to se ven for the fiscal year. The increase, which relates to
the restructuring of the programme, includes:
• The Chief Archit ect;
• Architect;
• Architectural Technician;
• Quantity Surveyor;
• Trainee Quantity Surveyor;
• Relief Construction/Project Manager; and
• Trainee Architect.

Capital Works

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Mr. Chairman, during fiscal
year 2015/16, the Projects worked on wh ich will be
further advanced in this coming year, are:
• Public Works Quarry Master Plan;


Bermuda House of Assembly • Public Works Quarry Short -Term Projects,
coordinated with roof repairs;
• Sessions House roof repairs;
• Health Insurance Department Alterations;
• Lefroy House Care Communit y, Minor Alter ations;
• Obtained Planning Approval for works to Teucer House;
• Obtained Planning Approval for the Old Hamilton Police Station;
• Relocation of National Security to Global
House;
• Relocation of Ministry of Home Affairs to Gov-ernment Administration Building;
• Relocation of Police Senior Command from
private rental space to DLBE [Dame Lois
Browne -Evans] Building;
• Relocation of the Tax Commissioners Office,
Internal Audit Office from public rental space
to Global House;
• Lands and Buildings relocations;
• Police Headquarters Master Plan;
• Relocation of the Senate;
• Relocation of the Court of Appeal;
• Alterations to the St George’s Clinic,
• Police COMOPS relocation;
• Alterations to Environmental Protection Buil ding;
• Containment Area for Airport Operations;
• Studi es for the Supreme Court and related
services.

Efforts were primarily focused on completing
the projects that were underway at the beginning of
the year.
Remedial works to the Public Works Headquarters were also completed during this period.

Staffing

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Mr. Chairman, the budgeted head count within the Ministry of Public Works
Headquarters is 49; this can be seen on page B -198.
The head count has increased by two for the fiscal
year. The increase relates to the increased head
count of three in the Architect and Design business
unit 46040, which was discussed earlier.

Output Measures

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Mr. Chairman, a few r esults of the performance measures for the Ministry of Public Works Headquarters as seen on pages B -199
and B-200:
1. Business Unit 46111: The Public Works Saf ety and Health Programme focused on the reporting of
work -related incidents, performing internal safety audits and risk assessments, and also hazard awar e-ness training in 2015/16. Twelve monthly reports were
provided to the management team regarding wor kplace incidents and the associated causal factors. Six
sections have completed risk assessments to identify
and control hazards within various operational pr ocesses. Two sections within the Ministry received an
internal safety audit and each section has developed
a corrective action plan to address safety concerns. In
addition, 20 hazard awareness training sessions were
conducted for employees with a total of 232 emplo yees participating in the training in 201 5/16.
2. Business Unit 46115: The telephone maint enance section converged four departments onto
voice/data shared infrastructure during 2015/16. They
are: The Ministry of Public Works headquarters, both
the Adult and Youth Libraries, and the Tourism I nspector s. The solution implemented for the Tourism
Inspectors on a trial basis involves the use of the desktop computer, and could replace desk phones for
smaller remote offices going forward. The Gover nment Quarry is now also in progress with completion
anticipated by end of the financial year, as I mentioned earlier.
3. Business Unit 46116: The newsletter was
created to increase the communication to all workers. As of today, the Ministry has delivered two out of four
newsletters intended for 2015/16.
4. Business Unit 46116: During 2015/16, the
Ministry had a 95 per cent completion rate for Performance Appraisals, and 96 per cent completion rate for
Forward Job Plans.
5. Business Unit 46118: The Ministry also completed four “Lunch and Learn” sessions for the indus-trial sta ff for the current period. The lunch/breakfast
and learns included Cancer Awareness, Community Police on Residential Security, For Women Only —
Menopause, and Jump 2b Fit.
6. Business Unit 46030: The water debt reduction target for 2015/16, of 15 per cent, was not met;
every effort will be made in 2016/17 to get the water
debt reduced by 10 per cent. The production and di stribution of Operational and Capital reports target of
100 per cent was not met, the actual target was
98 per cent; for 2016/17 we are aiming, of course, to
that other 2 per cent up to the 100 per cent.
Mr. Chairman, Capital Development -
Headquarters, on page C -6. I now wish to provide
Members of this Honourable House with a summary
of the status of the major capital projects being man-aged by the Ministry of Public Works —Headquarters.
The overall 2016/17 Capital Expenditure Plan for the Public Works —Headquarters is $4,895,000. Details
are found on page C -6 of the Approved Estimates of
Revenue and Expenditure 2016/17. This highlights the range and variety of activities on which the Ministry is
working.

75054—WEDCO Capital Grant

1318 9 March 2016 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Mr. Chairman, the 2016/17
estimate for this cost centre is $2,106,000. This budget allocation is a grant to WEDCO for the repayment
of the Victoria Place Project Loan as agreed in 2014.
This comprises $1,006,000 of interest and $1,100,000
of principal. Annual rental revenue is $420,000 from
which WEDCO contributes $294,000 annually to service the balance of the loan and $126,000 is retained
for maint enance of the units. The units continue to be
fully occupied.

75334—WEDCO —South Basin Land Reclaim

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Mr. Chairman, the 2016/17
allocation for this cost centre is $1 million. This budget allocation is a grant to WEDCO for the repaym ent of
South Basin Land Reclamation as agreed in 2014. ACBDA and their agent BCM are actively managing
all aspects of the project. The project remains on
course to be completed by June 30, 2016—that will be
June of this year. Total funds drawn down from bank
to date stands as $23 million with the balance of $16
million expected to be drawn before the end of June
2016. A special sub- committee has been tasked to
find an appropriate end use when the America’s Cup
is over.
In closing, Mr. Chairman, I would like to express my sincere thanks to the Permanent Secretary, Ms. Marva Jean O'Brien; the Chief Financial Officer,
Ms. Thomasina Hassell; and to the dedicated team of
officers and staff of the Ministry Headquarters.
Mr. Chairman, I now turn to Head 49, the D epartment of Land Valuation. (I am just going to take a
drink of water here real quick. I do not want to drink
too much water; I have five bottles here.)

HEAD 49 —DEPARTMENT OF LAND VALUATION

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Head 49— Ministry of Pu blic Works Land V aluation Department is found on
pages B -201 through B -203.
It gives me great pleasure to present the E stimates of Revenue and Expenditure for fiscal year
2016/17 for Head 49—the Department of Land Valu ation, found on pages B -201 to B -203.
The mission stat ement, Mr. Chairman, for the
Department of Land Valuation, which is mandated by
the Land Valuation and Tax Act 1967, is charged with
the responsibility of maintaining an up- to-date and
accurate Valuation List of all properties on the Island for land taxati on purposes, including the quinquennial
or (if you wish) five yearly revaluation of all properties,
and providing accurate and timely valuation advice to
other Government departments.
The ethos and work ethic of the department is
succinctly encapsulated in their motto, “We value
Bermuda.”
Programme 4901— Valuation Service
Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: The Land Valuation D epartment has the single Valuation Service pr ogramme, 4901, with the accompanying cost centre of
59080, as shown on page B -201 of the Approved Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure. The programme
can be broken down into three primary functions:
1. Maintenance of the Valuation List;
2. Appraisals;
3. Revaluation.

There has been no increase in the number of
civil service posts in the Land Valuation Department,
as seen on page B -202, as eight full -time positions
have been budgeted for Fiscal Year 2016/17.
There is presently one vacancy in the depar tment, comprising the Valuer’s position. It is anticipated that this essential position, which has been catego-rised as “hard to fill with qualified Bermudians” will be
filled during the 2016/17 Fiscal Year. Cabinet approval
has already been secured for recruitment and the position is to be advertised locally this month. So we are
hoping to fill that as quickly as pos sible.

Current Account Expenditure

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: The Current Account E xpenditure Estimates for Head 49—the Land Valuation Department, is found on page B -202 of the Estimates
of Revenue and Expenditure Book. A total of
$795,000 has been allocat ed to the Land Valuation
Department for Fiscal Year 2016/17. This allocation
represents a decrease of $15,000, or a 2 per cent r eduction compared to 2015/16 estimates. Savings were
realised as the bulk of the one- off expenses associa ted with the 2015 Island -wide revaluation project were
incurred in the current fiscal year, in addition to savings in other areas, such as training, software maint enance, and general operating expenses.

Budget Variances

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Mr. Chairman, as cost sa vings measures continue in Fiscal Year 2016/17, each and every Government Ministry and department must
be financially prudent and creative in the provision of their mandates and services.
The Land Valuation Department is no exception and remains committed to answering the call to dig deep.
This is evident in their 2016/17 Current A ccount Expenditure Estimates, as seen on page B -202.
To this end, all expenses, other than the absolute mi nimum to operate the department, have been cut. As
such, the department has no v ehicles, no Government
credit cards, no overseas travel funds, no consultants,
no facsimile line or cellular phones.
Mr. Chairman, Salaries remain relatively the
same, as the one vacant position has been budgeted for fiscal year 2016/17, as I said already. I must also


Bermuda House of Assembly highlight that of the $795,000 allocated to the Land
Valuation Department, $727,000, or 91 per cent is
allocated to Salaries.
Mr. Chairman, our primary resource is our
people, and as a 21st century organisation, we are
committed to the investm ent in and development of
our key resource, our personnel.
The professional members of staff within the
Land Valuation Department are all members of the
Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and are r equired to undertake a minimum of 20 continuous pr ofessional development hours annually. Unfortunately,
workshops and conferences specialising in valuations
for taxation purposes are virtually non- existent on the
Island and thus online web classes are an essential
tool and cost -effective medium for keeping abreast of
current developments in the specialist field of taxation valuations.
The $1,000 requested will cover the costs of
the online web classes, and represents an 83 per cent
expenditure decrease in Training, compared to the $6,000 allocation in 2015/16.
Mr. Chairman, travel expenditure remains the
same at $2,000 and covers the reimbursement for
mileage costs for the department’s field workers (from
St. George’s to Dockyard or, my preference, St. D avid’s to Dockyard) —the Valuation Survey Technicians,
in the performance of their duties, i.e., the inspection
of properties across the Island for land taxation purposes.
The only increase in expenditures for the department is Advertising and Promotion. This is for the one-off advertising costs of $4,000 that ma y be r equired if the department has to recruit overseas for the
vacant Valuer’s position that I mentioned earlier. All
attempts, however, will initially be made to fill the pos ition locally with a qualified Bermudian.
The 16 per cent expenditure decrease i n Professional Services is directly related to the one- off expenses incurred for the 2015 Revaluation project. Pr ofessional Services for fiscal year 2016/17 is estimated
to be $36,000, compared to $43,000 for 2015/16.
Mr. Chairman, expenditures of $18,000 for
Repair and Maintenance have been estimated for Fi scal Year 2016/17, representing a 10 per cent d ecrease or $2,000. Materials and Supplies, which is
estimated at $7,000 sees a decrease of 22 per cent,
or $2,000. Expenditure reductions in these two areas
relate to reduced operational costs and the continuing
financial prudence by the Land Valuation Department.

Revenue

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Mr. Chairman, Revenue for
the 2016/17 Fiscal Year can be found on page B -202,
and is estimated at $6,000 for Lan d Valuation Appeal
Tribunal hearing fees, compared to $5,000 for
2015/16. This represents a 20 per cent increase as a
result of the biennial increase in Government fees per the Government Fees Amendments Regulations
2016.

Capital Acquisitions

Hon. L. Cra ig Cannonier: Mr. Chairman, the depar tment does not have any funds allocated for Capital Acquisitions for fiscal year 2016/17, as can be found
on page C -12, as its current capital IT project is
scheduled to be completed this month.
Mr. Chairman, the projec t involves the upgrading of the department’s IT database. The move of
the department’s database to the new ESRI server is
critical to the overall functionality of the department as
its IT database is severely impacted and crippled
when the current defunct Oracle server goes down.
The requisite and urgent upgrades will future- proof the
department’s IT platform for maintaining and amend-ing the Valuation List and appraisal work services.

Major Achievements 2015/16

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: The Department of Land
Valuation has once again had an extremely busy and
challenging year. Despite numerous constraints and
obstacles, the department met its service targets with
taxpayers and other Government departments, in tandem with carrying out the Island- wide revaluation of all
properties in Bermuda.

2015 Revaluation Project

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: In addition to the inspection and valuation of properties that are newly con-structed, altered, or demolished during the life of a
Valuation List, the department’s statut ory mandate
also includes the revaluation of all properties in Bermuda approximately every five years.
The last Island- wide revaluation was undertaken in 2009. During this current fiscal year, the d epartment has focused all available resources on pr oducing the next Draft Valuation List for Bermuda, that
being the 2015 Draft Valuation List.
The Island- wide revaluation project follows
three overarching phases:
1. Rental data collection;
2. Analysis of the data;
3. Valuation model building and mass appraisal.
The revaluation project is a mammoth undertaking for a relatively small department as the Land
Valuation Department, and involves the revaluation of
over 35,800 valuation units.
Despite the challenges of staff shortages, time
constraints, and conflicting priorities, I am pleased to report that the 2015 Draft Valuation List was succes sfully deposited on 31 December 2015 as mandated by
legislation and came into effect for land tax purposes
on 1 January 2016. Copies of the List are available for
1320 9 March 2016 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly viewing at the Land Va luation Department, all post
offices, and online at the department’s website.
Should a taxpayer believe that their entry in the 2015
Draft Valuation List is incorrect, they have until 30
June 2016 —and I want to say this again —should a
taxpayer believe that their entry in the 2015 Draft Va luation List is incorrect, they have until 30 June 2016 in
which to make a formal objection on the prescribed
form.

Website Upgrade Project

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Mr. Chairman, the depar tment continues to embrace technology as the way of doing business, and their website www.landvaluation.bm
has given the public easy access to the Valuation List at any time of the day or night since 1999. The website allows the public the
ability to view their land tax assessment and compare
it with their neighbours, as well as access frequently asked questions or e- mail the department a question
of their own. The integrated mapping feature also assists with the location and identification of pr operties
on the website.
Mr. Chairman, the data on the website is updated nightly and the department frequently reviews
and updates both the layout and content of the site. [It
is] pretty remarkable. To further facilitate public ac-cess to the website, a co mputer was placed in the
reception area of the Land Valuation Department last
summer with dedicated access to the website. This is
in addition to the hard copy of the Valuation List that is
also available for viewing at the department.
The department’s website has therefore become an integral and useful tool for property profes-sionals and the public at large. During 2015, the website had 130,654 visitors and 5,204,479 hits. The
website also had an uptime or availability of 99.93 per
cent during 2015.
Given the importance of the website as the
primary interface with the general public, the depar tment undertook a complete revamp and modernis ation of the website, with the assistance of the Depar tment of E -Government.
Phase 1 of the Website Upgrade Project was
completed last summer and the site now boasts a
fresh modern look, is easy to use and navigate, fea-tures an up- to-date interface, and now has dow nloadable content. All of these upgrades enhance a
user’s experience and substantially reduces the need to telep hone or physically visit the department as their
questions are addressed on the website, and various forms can now be printed directly from the site, which
is pretty remarkable.

Performance Measures 2015/16
Mr. Chairman, despite being under staffed for
the majority of Fiscal Year 2015/16, the achievements
of the Land Valuation Department are indeed very notable. The Performance Measures for the depar tment can be found on page B -203, and I would like to
speak to these noteworthy achievements now.

Maintenan ce of the Valuation List

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: The mandated function of
maintaining the Valuation List utilises the majority of
the department’s resources. This work entails inspec ting, reassessing and making a corresponding alter ation to the Valuation List on any residential, commercial or tourist property that is built, altered or demolished.
Mr. Chairman, a total of 632 Maintenance of
the List cases were completed by the department by year end, resulting in 619 proposals to amend the
Valuation List. The cases were generated from a combination of Certificates of Completion and Occ upancy from the Planning Department, enquiries from
the public, and cases generated internally by the department. The number of cases completed represents
a 12 per cent increase compared to the previous year
of 562 cases. Of the 632 cases completed, 71 per
cent were completed within the department’s service
target of 20 working days from receipt. This is impressive, considering the staff shortages within the d epartment and the Island -wide revaluation project that
was undertaken in tandem.
Mr. Chairman, at year end, there were a total
of 35,823 units in the Valuation List with a combined
assessed rental value of over $1.533 billion.

Appraisal Services

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Mr. Chairman, the Stamp
Duty section provides valuations for the Tax Commi ssioner and Registrar of the Supreme Court for volu ntary conveyances of property and probate purposes,
respectively, to ensure that the correct amount of
stamp duty is levied on each document. Due to the
vacancy in the department, this section only had one
full-time employee for the majority of 2015.
A total of 92 cases from the Tax Commissioner were completed during the year with 94 per cent of
cases reported within 20 working days of receipt. This
percentage represents an increase of some 30 per
cent compared to the 64 per cent turnaround rate for
completed cases the previous year.
A total of 82 cases were received from the
Registrar of the Supreme Court during the year. All 82
cases were completed and returned within the performance target of 10 working days, despite the staff
shortages in this section. Again, this is pretty phenomenal. It should also be noted that an additional 24
cases were completed by the department last year, representing a 41 per cent increase compared to the
58 cases received the previous year.
Mr. Chairman, the Land Valuation Department
provides advice to the Immigration Department as to


Bermuda House of Assembly whether or not the purchase price, on which the l icence fee is calculated, can be accepted as the open
market value of the property. During the year, only two
cases were received from the Immigration Department in respect of sales of properties to restricted persons.
Both cases were completed and returned within the
performance target of five working days.
The department provides appraisal advice,
Mr. Chairman, to the Estates Section of the Depar tment of Public Lands and Buildings on the open mar-ket value of Government assets, or appraisals for p otential property disposals and ac quisitions. Due to the
need to prioritise staff resources for the 2015 Reva luation Project, it was agreed with the Chief Surveyor
that this appraisal service would be suspended during
2015 and resumed in 2016.
The achievement of these performance
measure t argets is quite impressive when one reflects
on the small size of the Land Valuation Department, in
conjunction with the undertaking of both the colossal
2015 Revaluation Project and the Website Upgrade
Project.

Initiatives for the Forthcoming Year 2016/1 7

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Mr. Chairman, as previously highlighted, the 2015 Draft Valuation List was placed on deposit on 31 December 2015 and came into effect for land taxation purposes on 1 January
2016. All taxpayers have six months (until 30 June
2016) to lodge an objection with the Department of
Land Valuation should they feel aggrieved.
Thus, the department is focused on the r eceipt and acknowledgement of the objections to the 2015 Draft Valuation List and the subsequent confi rmation of the 2015 Draft Valuation List in July 2016,
as required by legislation. The department’s spotlight
will then turn to dealing with the objections in a timely
and expeditious manner, which will no doubt include
presentations before the Land Valuation Appeal Tr ibunal.
As a result of the objections to the 2015 Draft
Valuation List, it is expected that there will be an i ncreased workload for the Land Valuation Department for Fiscal Year 2016/17, although this is difficult to
quantify at this stage. What is apparent, however , is
that in order to efficiently and effectively deal with the
projected increased workload, additional resources,
both human and capital, are required for this depar tment.
Mr. Chairman, following the confirmation of
the Draft List, maintenance of the confirmed 2015 Valuation List will be a priority of the department. For
Fiscal Year 2016/17, the department will not only
strive to meet its performance targets, but continue to
be proactive with maintenance of the Valuation List
work, thereby generating addi tional revenue for Government. This, yet again, highlights the need for addi-tional resources for this small department. (I can hear
the Director very clearly there.)
Mr. Chairman, providing a high level of service to the Tax Commissioner and the Registrar of the
Supreme Court for stamp duty appraisals and probate
purposes will continue to be a priority of the depar tment. The department will continue to provide advice
to the Department of Immigration, the Estates Section
of the Department of Public Lands and Buildings, and
other Government Departments on property and ap-praisal matters as required and within agreed service targets.
Mr. Chairman, as I conclude my presentation
of the Estimates of Expenditure and Revenues for the Department of Land Valuation —Head 49, I would like
to draw your attention to a few, often overlooked facts.
The department, which currently has only
seven members of staff and the smallest current account expenditure in the whole of Government, successfully completed the Island- wide reval uation of all
properties in Bermuda and deposited the 2015 Draft
Valuation List as legislated and on time.
The commitment and dedication of the Land
Valuation Department team are to be applauded.
Their unceasing hard work is indirectly responsible for
raising land tax revenue of $63,200,000, or 6.3 per
cent of Government’s estimated revenue for Fiscal
Year 2016/17, based on the assessments in the Val uation List that is maintained by the Land Valuation Department.
Land tax, which represents Government’s
fourth largest direct revenue stream, behind customs
duty, payroll tax, and international company fees, con-tinues to remain a secure revenue stream due to the
efforts of the Department of Land Valuation in mai ntaining an up- to-date and accurate Valuation List.
Additionally, approximately another
$2,500,000 is projected to be raised by stamp duty
levied on the appraisals provided by the Land Valua-tion Department to the Tax Commissioner for volu ntary conveyances of properties and the Registrar of
the Supreme Cour t for probate purposes.
I am sure you will appreciate the relatively low
cost of the Land Valuation Department, which has the
smallest budget for Fiscal Year 2016/17 for the whole
of Government, when compared to the significant rev-enue generated by the val uation and appraisal services it provides. However, much more can be
achieved with the adequate resources for this depar tment.
Therefore, I would like to take this opportunity
to thank the Land Valuation team for their continuous hard work and perseverance. Although theirs is a
thankless task, at times it feels, they quietly and effectively provide appraisal advice to other Government departments, conduct Island- wide revaluations, and
most importantly, maintain our Land Valuation List, which is the most cri tical component of Bermuda’s
land tax regime.
1322 9 March 2016 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly I am confident that the Land Valuation D epartment, with their continued careful monitoring and
financial prudence, will continue to persevere to fulfil
their statutory mandate and service provisions with
the budget allocations for Fiscal Year 2016/17.
With this comprehensive overview of the Land
Valuation Department, again, I would like to thank D iane Elliot for her wonderful work and her great attitude that she brings to the Land Valuation Department. I
move now that Budget Head 49 . . . well, I will approve
them later on.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
So now I will move on to Head 53—Bermuda
Housing Corporation. And I am just going to take another drink of water here real quick.

By all means.

HEAD 53 —BERMUDA HOUSING CORPORATION
Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Mr. Chairman, the mission
statement of the Bermuda Housing Corporation [BHC]
is “To provide accessibility to adequate, affordable
housing and promote independent living to enhance
the quality of life i n Bermuda.”
The vision statement of the Bermuda Housing
Corporation is: “Every Bermudian will reside in an adequate and safe environment.”
The Bermuda Housing Corporation’s grant a llocation of $6,050,000 represents no change from the
previous year.
The all ocated Grant will be used to subsidise
the cost of repairs, regular maintenance of properties,
support services, and rental assistance via Rent
Geared to Income to clients of the Corporation, and
for the continuation of the very important Hustle Truck
Prog ramme. One million dollars of this grant will be
allocated for the continuation of the Hustle Truck Pr ogramme.
In addition to the operating assistance grant
the BHC is budgeted to receive a capital grant of $4,800,000 for 2016/17 which represents an increase
of $2,640,000 from the previous year. This increase is necessary as a result of increasing interest rates over
the prior year as well as assisting with the principal
repayments of the Corporation’s bank loan of $36 mi llion associated with the Grand Atlantic project.
There are no other changes between the
2015/16 and the 2016/17 budgets.
The primary functions of the Bermuda Housing Corporation (BHC) are to provide housing in Ber-muda, to promote home ownership, to undertake and carry out housing schemes, and to undertake such
other functions in connection with housing as the Mi nister responsible for Housing may require.
The Bermuda Housing Corporation admini sters a number of programmes in pursuit of its mission
including managing and leasing a large inventory of
properties comprising houses, apartments, and buil d-ing blocks. Some of these properties are owned by
the Corporation and others are leased from their ow ners.
Mr. Chairman, the Bermuda Housing Corpor ation (and I will refer to it going forward as BHC) manages 530 government and private sector residential
units Island- wide, and 7 transitional homes comprising
of 182 rooms.
The BHC also manages and controls the Hustle Truck programme, acronym for Helping the Unemployed Sustain Themselves with Limited Empl oyment
(HUSTLE) which has been in successful operation
since 2007. And I think we can all say that we are glad
to see that that was implemented in 2007, the Hustle
Truck Programme.
The Corporation has aggressively engaged in
a comprehensive cost -saving programme over the last
couple of years in order to generate positive cash flow
savings. The cost -cutting ventures were wide- ranging
and included a reduction in office rent, telecommuni-cations, maintenance, insurance premiums, and a
reduction in staff (head c ount) through retirements
and natural attrition (voluntary resignations). These
vacant posts were not refilled.
The Corporation continues to work with the
lending agencies to help assist Bermudian clients to retain their homes by advising on best steps to manage mortgage payments under these current economic and financial constraints. The Corporation advises
homeowners on creative ways to service their debt to
respective lending agencies by either renting out
homes or apartments or by providing helpful advi ce
for refinancing their current loans.
The BHC is in the process of reissuing a R equest for Interest (the RFI) on the Grand Atlantic Condominium Development. While the negotiations with
the Bermudian Beach Resort Group (BBR) were very positive and showed great promise on how the site
could be transformed, ultimately the group was unable
to confirm the debt financing component within the
MOU timeframe, which was extended twice to afford
BBR time to arrange the adequate debt financing for
the transfer. In reissuing the RFI, the BHC will consi der proposals which will create jobs, have an economic and social impact and generate a return on inves tment for the Government.
The Bermuda Housing Corporation continues
to promote a very good working relationship with t he
Police Service, particularly the Police Community A ction Team (or CAT). Last year the Corporation met in multiple neighbourhoods along with CAT Officers to remind clients of the need for peaceable and harm onious existence.
The Bermuda Housing Corporation has empathy with many of its clients who have suffered a decline in their income through the misfortune of lost
jobs or reduced work hours. The Corporation has constant meetings with clients to help them navigate
through these difficult social, economic and financial


Bermuda House of Assembly times. The Rent Geared to Income (RGI) initiative
gives real relief to clients by assisting them with r equested payment of only 25 per cent of their combined household income to be paid to the Corporation
as rent, regardless of employment status of family
members.
The Rent Geared to Income initiative conti nues to be of significant benefit to clients of BHC. Cl ients have been able to become more disciplined in savings by depositing 10 per cent of their combined
household income toward a savings plan. The ult imate objective is for the savings to be used as a d eposit for qualified clients to take advantage of any potential opportunity to purchase their own home. Of
note, some clients have amassed savings of over
$30,000 in preparation for an oppor tunity that may be
afforded them to become homeowners. It is the Corporation’s goal this year to have the first group of cl ients from the RGI program graduate to become first -
time homeowners. The Rent Geared to Income pr ogramme has also allowed many client s to become
more financially stable and choose to transfer from the BHC housing units into the private sector, thereby gi ving opportunities for others to become successful cl ients of the Corporation. The total number of clients choosing to become private s ector tenants over
2015/16 totalled 60.
The BHC continues to operate seven rooming
or transitional houses that contain a total of approx imately 200 beds. The various houses are located
throughout the Island and provide a safe habitat for
BHC clients. The r ooming houses cater to households
that need immediate, safe or emergency accommoda-tion. The Support Services Department continues to hold regular rooming house meetings to listen to concerns and address complaints from the residents of
the facilities.
Mr. Chairman, in order to better effectively
manage the two larger rooming houses located at
Southside, the satellite offices are manned daily by BHC personnel; a strong emphasis is placed on social
components of clients’ behaviour. These staff me mbers have a myriad of tasks and duties including interviewing clients, devising comprehensive plans for cl ients' various areas of improvement, and guiding them
into their eventual transfer out of the rooming houses.
The Support Services strategy for rooming house residents includes guidance on financial management,
good housekeeping, sound social skills, and conflict
resolution. The aim of the Corporation is to have cl ients graduate out from the rooming houses into more traditional modes of living, thereby ensuring tha t the
rooming houses are short -term transitional housing
solutions only.
Since its inception in 2007, 307 families have
transferred out of the rooming house facilities into
more traditional accommodation.

Gulfstream —Multi -unit Rooming Housing — Southside, St. David’s

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: The Gulfstream multi -unit
rooming house is comprised of 78 rooms and currently houses 96 people from various backgrounds (50 adults and 46 children).
The Gulfstream residents have become more
socialised and have experi enced many positive interactions with outside helping agencies which monitor
and guide behaviours with the expected outcome that
clients will more quickly relocate out of the rooming house locations into self -contained housing units.

Langley House —Multi -unit Rooming Housing —
Southside, St. David’s

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Mr. Chairman, Building
632 known as Langley House is a 61- rooming house
facility, located at Southside, St. David’s. The Rooming house is used specifically to house men in need of
affordable, safe accommodation. Currently, there are 57 men residing at Langley House. The majority of
men housed in Langley House work during the day
and return at night to a safe and habitable enviro nment. They are regularly counselled that illegal and
antisoc ial behaviour will not be tolerated and if exhi bited, are grounds for eviction from the property.
The Corporation has a qualified social worker
based at the satellite office who is available to counsel
and provide assistance to the residents on a daily b asis. Assistance provided includes job advice, conflict
resolution, communication skills, and listening to res ident’s concerns.
This past year saw a partnership with a community advocate who arranged a Thanksgiving Sup-per for the men of the Langley House whi ch was very
well received. The supper was opened by a prayer
from Brotha Richie of HOTT 107.5 fame, a chief organiser of the event. The fellowship and camaraderie of the men was a delight to behold.

Harmony Club

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: The Harmony Club property continues to be of valuable use to the Police Ser-vice to house its personnel. At present, there are 16 units occupied by overseas police officers. The loc ation is proving ideal for the officers, allowing a quick
response to emergences. In addition, the Harmony Club is also being utilised as office and training space
and storage of equipment for the Hustle Truck pr ogramme, and as meeting rooms for the Paget Parish
Council.
The Corporation has also partnered with a l ocal young adult track training team of elite athletes who use the facilities for training purposes utilising the
weight room equipment available at the facility. The
members of the club include young people who have
1324 9 March 2016 Official Hansard Report
B ermuda House of Assembly been featured in the January Front Street Mile races,
to great acclaim.
BHC Staff
Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: The BHC staff has a supporting role to play in the well -being of Bermuda res idents. To this . . .
Longevity of the Corporation’s assets. The
department has recently been restructured with the
Project Managers overseeing the multiple dwellings that come under the BHC remit to ensure effective and cost -conscious maintenance programmes [and]
keep the units in safe and healthy states.
Property Operations
Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Mr. Chairman, the Property
Operations Department is responsible for the maint enance of BHC’s housing stock of approximately 700 units including the rooming houses Island- wide. The
department’s responsibilities include the regular maintenance of buildings under the control of BHC, and providing advice and assistance to clients of BHC
on housing- related matters. The department is co mprised of three Property Officers, six Maintenance O fficers, and one Administrative Assistant. The depar tment conducts regular maintenance checks of buildings under the management of the Corporation and is responsible for small maintenance works along with
coordinating more difficult tasks with trusted and able
contractors.
During the 2015/16 year, the Property Oper ations Department completed a total of 2,956 maint enance requests, an increase of 141 requests over the previous year. The requests for maintenance that this
talented department handles are wide ranging. They
tackle everything from simple plumbing, electrical, water, sewage, and roof repairs, to landscaping, paint-ing, flooring and major renovations.
Finance Department
Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Mr. Chairman, the Finance
Department has a total staff of nine employees, con-sisting of: one finance manager; two assistant finance managers, one responsible for reporting, and the ot her for IT; one accounts supervisor; two finance offi cers; one junior finance officer; one collections officer; and one cashier.
The Finance Department carefully monitors
the Corporation’s spending and compliance, ensuring that the Policies and Procedures are adhered to and
that clients act responsibly in paying their bills in a
timely manner.
The Finance Department fields questions of a
financial nature, provides mortgage advice, and as-sists clients with understanding their financial oblig ations to the Corporation. Support Services Department
Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Mr. Chairman, the Support
Services Department is the department responsible for ensuring that adequate housing is found for BHC clients, and for regular inspections of BHC housing
inventory. The department consists of 10 persons:
one manager, one rentals case worker, two transitional house case workers, two junior transitional house case workers, three rental inspectors, and one intake officer.
There is a current wait list for BHC ac commodation of 162 clients, down by approximately 100 cl ients from last year. This is as a result of more ac-commodation becoming available and rental price r eductions in the open market place. In 2015, the Sup-port Services Department successfully housed 12 5
new families who were desperate for adequate accommodation. The Support Services Department offers a myriad of services to clients that include money management, housekeeping, social and behavioural problem eradication, child care, and health and safety guidance. In addition, the department offers advice on
support from other agencies that stand ready to assist
clients who are in need of professional counselling. The department is also a member of the Cross Minis-tries Intervention Team known as CMIT. The CMIT programme is used to assist at -risk families in mana ging their daily lives including budgeting, learning acceptable social skills, job placement, and more r esponsible behaviours.
Administration
Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Mr. Chairman, the Admi nistrati on Department consists of the general manager,
one executive assistant, one receptionist, and two
office assistants. The Administration Department is responsible for the orderly daily business of the Cor-poration.
Human Resources
Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: The Human Resource [HR]
Department has a total staff of two. The HR Depar tment ensures that staff members have the required
skills to efficiently and successfully carry out their daily
roles in the Corporation, ensures employee welfare, and provides mentoring and training services.
Helping Unemployed Sustain Themselves with
Limited Employment (Hustle Truck)
Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Mr. Chairman, the Hustle
Truck programme continues to be of valuable assistance to unemployed persons who actively seek work.
The Hustle Truck Program, ac ronym for “Helping the
Unemployed Sustain Themselves with Limited Employment” began in April 2007. Due to budgetary conBermuda House of Assembly straints, the programme was reduced from an intake
of 60 members per week to 20 workers per week. The
value of the programme has not gone unnoticed in the
community and the necessary modifications were made to the numbers of persons who could benefit
from being employed on the Hustle Truck programme,
which was hailed as timely and inventive.
The current cost of t he Hustle Truck pr ogramme is approximately $1,000,000 per year (20
people per week for up to three months total per year)
taking one week off each month to seek regular employment. At this level the Corporation is able to rotate
through approximately 260 different people per year.
The programme is available for any unemployed Bermudian.
Under the guidance of the Bermuda Housing
Corporation, through the auspices of the Ministry of Public Works, the modified programme continues with
assistance to over 2,000 unemployed persons since
its inception.
Because of the present Island- wide economic
and financial conditions, there is an increasing segment of Bermuda’s population who are unemployed.
The Hustle Truck has helped to sustain some of these
persons with part -time employment. Were it not for the
existence of the Hustle Truck programme, many of
these persons would be forced to enrol in the Fina ncial Assistance programme. At present, there are a pproximately 25 people on the wait list daily who are advised to retur n the following day for an opportunity
to work.
As an added benefit to the society of Berm uda, persons who have been reliably identified as gang
members have also enrolled into the Hustle Truck programme. These members, for a myriad of reasons,
are not employable from outside agencies and have
sought a means of legal temporary employment. They
work with the Hustle Truck organisers in discussing
solutions to the gang violence which has gained prominence in Bermuda. They also have engaged in r equests from the programme of providing “temporary
safe houses” for their safety and security.
The objective of the programme is to sustain
the workers, ideally for a short period of time until they can gain full -time employment. To this end, Hustle
Truck workers are guid ed on interview and present ation skills and, where needed, are trained in correct
work ethics. In addition, the Hustle Truck Office, l ocated at Harmony Hall in Paget, keeps a data base of
information on the unemployed and their skill sets for
the specific purpose of making a good fit when par tnering with employers. The Hustle Truck office regu-larly receives requests from employers for qualified
and suitable potential employees; upon receipt of r equests the data base is checked, and those persons
who have th e required qualifications are sent on interviews in the hopes of achieving full time traditional
employment. Since its inception in 2007, the programme
has grown and is appreciated and accepted as a vi able initiative geared toward providing temporary em-ployment relief for the unemployed, while at the same
time ensuring that Bermuda’s seniors, charitable ent ities, the disabled, and those who are in genuine need of assistance have an able body of men and women
who may be called upon for valued assistance. The y
have assisted in the cleaning of graffiti in many socia lly challenged neighbourhoods, assisted in the moving
of Government departments, cleared areas of hedges, trees, and bushes on many Government -owned land
masses on an urgent basis, as well as assiste d in the
clean- up of neighbourhoods after hurricanes.
In addition, the Hustle truck has basically r eplaced the bulk waste pick -up section that was closed
in the Ministry of Works by collecting and cleaning neighbourhoods of illegally dumped bulk waste item s
such as mattresses, sofas, furniture, and appliances
on a weekly basis that you see in many of our wooded
areas, and some not wooded.
The Hustle Truck workers are taught valuable
skills while participating in the programme such as painting, landscaping, and masonry work which allows
them to help build a portfolio of successful projects to
use to assist in securing job opportunities. They are
also given advice on how to start their own small businesses if the desire is there.
Eight members were successful in gaining
full-time employment this year and several members
were given guidance on starting their own businesses
as entrepreneurs.
The successful format of this programme continued to be used by the Parks Department last year with the assistance of the B HC and the Workforce
Development Team on the Railway Trail Initiative. The
Railway Trail programme hired persons registered
with Workforce Development for short -term emplo yment assisting with clearing Bermuda’s railway trails.
The Hustle Truck continues the partnership
with the Department of Corrections in providing temporary employment to inmates who are seeking parole
or are about to be released from the Corrections facil ity. The Officers liaise with senior Corrections Officers
and commit to temporarily employ qualified inmates to
assist the inmates in gaining meaningful legal wor kplace experience.
The Hustle Truck continues to administer their
daily operations from the offices based at the Harm ony Club.
The BHC continues to provide valuable and
timely ser vice to Bermudians. They strive for daily excellence in their duty and are constantly called upon to
assist Bermuda in times of need. They are a vibrant
organisation and leap to address challenges as they arise.
In closing, Mr. Chairman, I would like to thank
the Board of Directors and the Management and Staff of the Bermuda Housing Corporation for their past
1326 9 March 2016 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly services. In particular, I would like to thank Major Dill
who I have had the opportunity, of here late, to have a
few personal conversations with as w e move forward.
And I kind of joked to him —Where is he? Where is
he? I know he is around here somewhere, I see him —
he said, Well, you haven’t seen me because we think
you are doing a fantastic job. So it is good to see that
he continues to do a great job. I cannot say enough about the Hustle Truck Programme, as I have extensively read about it and how it touches many other
departments of Government as well. So again, Major Dill, we want to thank you for the great work that you
have done and continue to do.
Now, Mr. Chairman, I still have a large portf olio here so I continue on. I will move to Head 68.

This is a debate.
Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: We have got five hours,
my dear friend.

HEAD 68 —DEPARTMENT OF PARKS
Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: The Ministry of Public
Works —Department of Parks, pages B -205 to B -210.
The mission of the Department of Parks is:
• To develop and maintain public parklands,
beaches, an d school grounds, and to produce
plants necessary for this purpose;
• To provide safe and aesthetically pleasing, active and passive recreational and educ ational facilities for the enjoyment of residents
and visitors; and
• To promote the educational and cultural hist ory relating to our environment.

In its day -to-day operations, the Department
of Parks is responsible for the management and
maintenance of 75 parks, including Admiralty House
Park, Penhurst Park, Great Head Park, West Whale
Bay Park, and Daniel’s Head Park.

Additionally, the Department of Parks also
manages the grounds of 96 additional properties i ncluding Government House, Montpelier, Lefroy
House, Sylvia Richardson Seniors Residence, health
clinics, post offices, 30 public schools, and communi ty
area parks, as well as approximately 30 kilometres of roadside verges stretching throughout the Island, and
six sports fields under the Ministry of Youth and
Sports. The scope of work spans enforcement, deve lopment, maintenance, cultural and historic manage-ment, education and administrative functions, making the Department of Parks a complex and dynamic ent ity.
With over 170 areas of responsibility to manage throughout the year, the Department of Parks has had another demanding year working to keep our parks and government lands beautiful. Along with our
routine maintenance, the Department of Parks has
planned numerous projects to enhance and preserve
the beauty and function of our National Parks for the
enjoyment of the public.
Before we discuss the finances and resources
of the five programmes and multiple cost centres o perating within the Department of Parks, I would like to
outline the overall operational budget, structure, and
capital acquisitions for 2016/17.
The Department of Parks current account expenditure as seen on page B -206 for 2016/17, is
$9,845,000, representing a 2 per cent increase over
the 2015/16 budget. This increase is attributed to the
uplift required to cover operational, salary and wage
requirements.
This department has a complement of 143
staff, which you will find outlined on page B -208. Of
the 143 personnel, 109 are industrial employees, 22
are civil service employees, and 12 are seasonal employees. Salaries and wages, including overtime, t otals $8.3 million, which represents appr oximately
85 per cent of the budget. It is important to note that
currently there are 10 funded industrial post vacancies, and four funded civil service vacancies within the
department.

Capital Acquisition
Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: The Department of Parks
Capital Acquisitions fund as seen on page C -12, has
been financed with $100,000 for the purchase and
replacement of maintenance vehicles in the fleet that
have become old and rundown. As this department relies heavily on vehicles to carry out Island- wide
maintenance and storm clean- ups, it is imperative that
these vehicles be replaced in a timely manner. It is anticipated that this new equipment will help speed up
the responsiveness of the department to both routine
maintenance and emergency services.

Capital Development

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: The Capital Development
budget as seen on page C -6 is $1,335,000. Cost centre 75101, has been allocated $890,000 to fund e nhancements to the National Parks such as renov ations to forts, playgrounds, railway trails , boat/dock
slips repairs, as well as for the upgrade of many of the restrooms in the national parks. This year the emphasis will be beautifying and readying the parks in advance of the America’s Cup events in the fall of 2016 and summer of 2017.


Bermuda House of Assembly Cost cent re 75234 has been allocated
$445,000 to fund the construction of the Parks
Maintenance and Mustering station which we intend to
start building in the upcoming fiscal year.

Revenue

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Total Revenue as seen on
page B -207 is projected to be $59,000 in 2016/17, a
significant drop over the past few years due to the
removal of the production of the 2016 Bermuda Agr icultural Exhibition from the Government’s remit. For 2016/17, 50 per cent of the revenue will be generated
from the Forts divi sion. Approximately $34,000 will be
raised from admission fees from Fort St. Catherine,
with camping fees contributing $12,000. The balance
will be raised by:
• Concessions —$3,000;
• Service fees —$1,000;
• Horticultural Produce —$5,000; and
• Facilities —$4,000.

Programmes

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Mr. Chairman, the depar tment has five programme areas, each with a number
of sub- programmes or cost centres, as shown on
page B -206 of the Approved Estimates of Revenue
and Expenditure and they are:
• Programme 6801, Park S ervice –Park Rangers;
• Programme 6802, Lifeguards;
• Programme 6803, Park Maintenance;
• Programme 6804, Administration;
• Programme 6805, Forts and Historical sites.

Programme 6801— Park Service

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Programme 6801 is r esponsible for the enforcement of the National Parks
Act 1986 and the National Parks Regulations 1988. To that end, the Park Rangers patrol the Bermuda
National Parks and beaches, enforcing the National
Park regulations, and inspecting and reporting on the
amenities in the parks . Furthermore, they manage
special functions in the national parks, and liaise with
industry partners to maximise the success of their du-ties.
Throughout 2015/16, the Park Ranger Service
was involved in numerous community projects inclu ding:
• End-to-End Cha rity Walk;
• Family Centre’s Cycle for Change;
• PALS Charity Walk;
• Centre Against Abuse’s Side- to-Side Charity
Walk;
• Centre Against Abuse’s Century Ride fundraiser, which is an up to 100- mile pedal bike ride commencing at Government House and
rolling past Ber muda Botanical Gardens;
• Bermuda Bicycle Association Mountain Bike
Series/Fat Tire Massive conducted at various
parks including the Railway Trail, Hog Bay
Park, Fort Scaur, Admiralty House Park,
Southlands, Arboretum, and Ferry Point Park;
• Provided Bermuda Red Cross sanctioned
CPR, First Aid, and AED certification to var ious Bermuda Government departments and also to a number of organisations and bus inesses in the private sector including PALS
and BHB staff;
• Conducted Interpretive Tours of various parks
and nature reserves, for school groups and
camps;
• Assisted in neighbourhood cleanups with the Bermuda Police Service Community Action
Team;
• Liaised with Keep Bermuda Beautiful [KBB]
for the various clean- ups of parks and beac hes;
• Hurricane Clean- up and Landscaping Island -
wide. Of particular note, the Park Service was
especially instrumental in assisting the D epartment of Youth and Sport in getting their
programmes up and running for the 2015 year
at White’s Island, Port’s Island and Darrell’s
Island in conjunct ion with the Tree Unit and
the Woodlands Management crews, after the
devastation caused on the islands by Hurr icanes Fay and Gonzalo;
• Emancipation Day at Horseshoe Bay on
Thursday, 31 July 2015, the first day of the
Cup Match holiday weekend. There was no
organised event for 2015; however, the beach
was still very busy as is the tradition of Cup
Match. The Department of Parks, Bermuda
Police Service, the Department of Transport, and CADA were instrumental in ensuring that
the day operated as smoothly as pos sible.
Fortunately, for the first time in approximately
eight years there were no individuals who r equired treatment at KEMH. The park rangers,
lifeguards and sanitation teams were kept extremely busy. The ability to use the Sout hampton Princess as a one- way system for
cars and bikes was highly successful, with emergency vehicles, taxis, and mini buses the
only vehicles permitted to use two- way traffic
flow on the entrance road to Horseshoe Bay;
• Bermuda Powerboat Association assisted as a marshal boat provi ding on the water support
as trained first aid responders for the Around
the Island Race in August 2015;
• Palm Sunday Walk: The department assisted
the Bermuda National Trust with preparing the
hurricane ravaged route for the annual walk
which was conducted through Coopers Island,
1328 9 March 2016 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly Clearwater Beach, Great Head Park, Little
Head Park, and St. David’s Lighthouse Park;
• America’s Cup: The Department of Parks assisted with the arrangements for the event in
October 2015 on Front Street where the department provided portable toilets, attendants,
and lifeguard services for the three- day event;
• Daniel’s Head Park and 9 Beaches: A combination of crews from the Department of Parks
assisted the concession operators at the
9 Beaches Daniel’s Head complex by provi ding lands cape works to clean- up and make
the site more welcoming for patrons.

Park Service Operational Budget

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Mr. Chairman, a budget of
$429,000 has been allocated to the Park Ranger Service for fiscal year 2016/17. This figure represents a
$20,000, or a 4 per cent reduction, as compared to
the 2015/16 budget. This budget is used for the employment of both full -time and seasonal Park Rangers,
as well as for the resources required to perform their
duties. The Park Ranger patrols are critical to the tour-ism product, as the presence of the Park Rangers on
patrol has a positive effect on our beaches, thus despite the reduction in overall budget, we endeavour to
provide as much coverage in the parks as possible.

Park Service Staffing

Hon. L. C raig Cannonier: The full -time equivalents
for the cost centre 78000, Park Ranger Service, on page B -208, is eight. This represents an increase of
one full -time employee as compared to fiscal 2016/17.

Performance Measures

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Mr. Chai rman, I would now
like to highlight some of the performance measures forecast for cost centre 78000, on page B -209, for
fiscal year 2015/16. We present the following:
• The forecast of camping and special permits
issued in fiscal year 2015/16 is 600. This
number reflects the popularity of the National
Parks as venues for social functions such as
church and family picnics, weddings, and family reunions. The economic climate may have
an impact on these numbers as the parks provide an affordable venue for large events.
• The forecast of incidents managed in fiscal
year 2015/16 was 115. Incidents ranged from
abandoned vehicles and illegal camping, to
vandalism and accidents. The number of inc idents thus far is lower than that of 2014/15.
We attribute this to the com bination of less
seasonal rangers, and a change in the repor ting classifications for incidents.
Programme 6802—Lifeguard Service

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Lifeguard Services, Pr ogramme 6802 on page B -206. The Lifeguard Service
is responsible for the provi sion of lifeguards on four
public beaches, as well as for the provision of water
safety outreach services to the community. They are
also responsible for the enforcement of the National
Parks Regulations 1988.

Staffing

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: The 2015 s eason consis ted of 1 Lifeguard Superintendent and 31 trained Se asonal Lifeguards, which is equivalent to the 12 full -
time equivalents on page B -208. The Department of
Parks Lifeguard Service continued to use the Royal
Life Saving Society (RLSS) UK’s Nation al Beach Lif eguard Qualification (NBLQ), Automatic External Defi brillator (AED) and Life Support 3 award as part of the
core curriculum for 2015.
All RLSS Trainer Assessors (TA) for the
NBLQ have been notified that 2015 would be the last year for NBLQ and will be replaced with a new beach
Lifeguard course entitled “National Vocational Beach
Lifeguard Qualification,” to keep up with evolving and
improving standards and procedures.
In-service training courses were held throughout the 2015 season providing ski lls and theoretic
study on resuscitation including aquatic and on- land
rescues. This training additionally served as a means
for the Lifeguard Superintendent to assess the service for readiness, as well as establishing individual appraisal measures.

Lifeg uard Achievements 2015/16

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Mr. Chairman, in addition
to their daily lifeguard duties, this year, the Bermuda
Lifeguard Service (BLS) was involved in the following:
• Presented two water safety lectures in the
community, one at the Bermuda Aquarium
Museum and Zoo Aqua Camp, and [another]
at the Bermuda Government’s Youth and
Sports summer camp, Camp Kiskadee at Harrington Sound Primary School.
• The BLS produced two successful Lifeguard
Competitions in 2015. These competitions
bring the entire service, as well as service
alumni, together in comradeship and sport smanship which also serves to highlight their
hard work, fitness and life- saving skills for the
public.
• They provided water safety coverage for the
Bermuda Triathlon Association sanctioned tr iathlons during the season.
• Conducted First Aid and CPR training for Government departments, as well as in the
community in order to maintain instructor st aBermuda House of Assembly tus requirements with the Bermuda Red
Cross. In addition to the Lifeguard Superi ntendent, we are pleased to report that three
lifeguards qualified as instructors for the season to provide CPR/first aid instruction services for both the public and private sectors.
• Were involved with EMO cleanup operations.
The team carried out Island- wide clean- up
and other related tasks.
• The BLS continues to be active with the Water Safety Council with monthly meetings with the
Lifeguard Superintendent on the board.

Lifeguard Operational Budget

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Mr. Chairman, $547,000
has been allocated to this budget. This represents an
increase of $23,000 over 2015/16. This is due to the
need to have adequate coverage for a longer season on the four beaches where we plan to operate this
year. These beaches are Horseshoe Bay, John
Smiths Bay, Clearwater, and Turtle Cove. Therefore, the full -time equivalents for the cost centre 78010,
Lifeguard Service, on page B -208 are 12. This is the
same number as 2015/16, but the plan for 2016/17 is to have the beaches open for a slightly longer period
due to the heavier cruise ship schedule. So some
planning has gone into that.

Performance Measures 2015/16

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Mr. Chairman, I would like
to now highlight some of the performance measures
of cost centre 78010, Lifeguard Service, page B -209,
for Fiscal Year 2015/16.
Total number of beaches patrolled in Fiscal
Year 2015/16, four. Theses beaches currently include,
as I already mentioned, the four. Our forecast includes
two additional beaches, as it is anticipated that occ asional patrols of other public beaches may occur dur-ing the season due to special events and requests. These may include Admiralty House Park and Warwick Long Bay or Chaplin Bay.
The total number of Visitor Assists per season
is 5,618. Visitor Assists activities include basic first aid, answering questions from the public, helping find
lost persons, et cetera.
The total number of preventative actions is
3,928. The lifeguard training emphasises prevention. This is an increase in numbers as compared to 2014/15, when there were 3,567 pr eventative actions.
Rougher seas, more rip currents, and less exper ienced swimmers may lead to more interventions from the lifeguards on duty.

Programme 6803— Park Maintenance Division

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Mr. Chairman, we now turn
our attention to th e Park Maintenance Division, pr o-gramme 6803. The Park Maintenance Division is r esponsible for the landscaping requirements of all na-tional parks and other Government -owned lands. This
involves hard landscaping, development, renovations, maintenance (mowing, pruning, edging), trash remov-al, tree surgery, and sanitation services.
For our park landscape and maintenance
crews, 2015 was another busy year. Budget co nstraints have created a reduction in staff numbers and
challenges with equipment utilisation. The parks
crews continued to work diligently to maintain their
areas of responsibility.
Mr. Chairman, in addition to routine maint enance and hurricane clean- up after [Hurricane]
Joaquin, the landscape crews assisted with or completed the following projects:
• The vistas above South Shore Park were
pruned to provide broader views into the park.
We have received countless praise from taxi
operators who report that their visitors love
taking photographs from these areas.
• Botanical Gardens started renovations of
many of the collections, enhancing the soil
and pruning vegetation to boost the health of
the plants and the aesthetics within the
grounds. The fence around the main ring is
being replaced, and the kitchen garden has
been successful throughout the year. The
work in the grounds continues.
• The Tree Unit and Woodlands management
teams carried out tree work and culling on
Darrell’s and White’s Islands, after the trees were seriously damaged during the 2014 hurricanes. This work was necessary so that the
Youth and S port summer events could occur.
• The woodlands management crew also assisted at Police Headquarters to remove inv asive plants on the perimeter of the garage area and near the firing range.
• At Government House, the eastern boundary
received attention to remove overgrown vegetation to beautify the area. The Park’s masons
also repaired a shoreline wall.
• The landscape crew, which is responsible for
new works and development, re- landscaped
the Black Watch Well at Black Watch Pass in time for the rededication of t he well by the vi siting Third Battalion Royal Regiment Scotland Pipes and Drum.
• At Store Hill Railway Trail, the site of the new
footbridge, the landscape crew and tree unit
cleared vegetation and re- landscaped the surrounds of the footbridge.
• Tokio Millennium Kids Bicycle Series at the
Arboretum, is held each Saturday afternoon
from November to March.
• Prison Programme: Prisoners from the Prison
Farm assisted in providing landscape services
1330 9 March 2016 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly at Spittal Pond, John Smith’s Bay, and Ferry
Point Park.

Mr. Chair man, we would like to take
this opportunity to thank the Department of
Corrections for their assistance throughout the
year.

Parks Maintenance Operational Budget

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Mr. Chairman, a budget of
$7,205,000 has been allocated to this cos t centre.
This represents an increase of 2 per cent, or $130,000
as compared to the 2015/16 budget. This cost centre
includes the budgets for Government House and Camden, Maintenance and Development, Eastern
Parks, Tree Service, Western Parks, School Grounds,
Tulo Valley, Botanical Gardens, and the Railway Trail.
The increase in budget is attributed to an increase in
the wages and maintenance supplies and equipment.
The full -time equivalents for the cost centres
78015, 78020, 78030, 78035, 78040, 78045, 78055,
and 78065 in the Park Maintenance section are 109.

Park Maintenance Performance Measures

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Mr. Chairman, referring to
the forecast performance measures on pages B -209
and B -210 for Fiscal Year 2015/16, we present the
following:
Performance Measures for Tree Service,
78035, total number of trees felled, forecast of 150.
This significant decrease as compared to 2014/15 is related to the fact that we were able to save many
more trees that were damaged by Hurricanes Fay and
Gonzalo than was initially anticipated.
Performance Measures forecast for Tulo Valley Nursery, 78055, the total number of bedding plants produced, 30,000. This is on par with the previous
year’s total. Now that repairs have been made to the
nursery, the plant stoc k is increasing, and we expect a
larger number by the end of the fiscal year.
Performance Measures for Botanical Gardens
and Arboretum, 78065, the total number of seasonal bedding displays developed are 30. This is down from
the previous year because the c oncentration at the
start of the 2015/16 year was to effect repairs from
hurricane damage.
Total number of annual and perennial plants
installed at Botanical Gardens and Arboretum is
37,500. This was also lower than 2014/15 due to the
fact that all crews w ere concentrating on hurricane
repairs.
Total number of interpretive tours conducted
is 68. This was also reduced as compared to the prior year, due in part to staff reductions as result of the Voluntary Early Retirement Programme.

Administration and Plan ning
Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: We will now look at Admi nistration and Planning, Programme 6804, on page B -
206, which is responsible for the day -to-day oper ations of managing the parks team, as well as park planning and designing, and developing management
plans for all National Parks.

Administration and Planning Achievements

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: This year, 2015/16, the
Administration and Planning team were involved in the following projects of note:
Footbridge in Smith’s Parish . A public/ pr ivate part nership with Limbo Up [Foundation] and
Friends of the Bermuda Railway Trail and the D epartment of Parks saw the successful installation of a
pedestrian bridge above Store Hill, Smith’s Parish,
which links two formerly disconnected sections of the
railway t rail. Now trail users do not have to walk onto
the road at Store Hill to enjoy this section of the park,
making it safer for families and pedal cyclists. Howe ver horse riders will need to continue to cross on the
road. In preparation of this footbridge ins tallation pr oject, extensive clearance of non- native species has
been undertaken to clear the pylons of vegetation. The Under 17 National Rugby Team donated their
time and energy to assist with the clean- up. They
helped to cull invasive plants and loaded u p the trucks
with the horticultural waste. We take this opportunity
to thank them for their involvement in this huge undertaking. As an amenity associated with this footbridge, three benches and one table were installed within a
mile of each side of the tr ail for the comfort of trail users. The bridge has proven to be extremely popular with the public, as dozens of people are seen using
the bridge daily.
We take this opportunity to offer a sincere
thank you to Mr. Lawrence Michael Murphy and Dr.
Tucker Murphy for their remarkable achievement and
continued partnership in linking and enhancing the
Bermuda Railway Trail.
Railway Trail Park. Surface remediation is in
process in the central trail to address serious run- off
onto the trail from a neighbouring farm .
Google Mapping. A representative from
Google Street View worked closely with the Park Planning section for two and half months to capture
imagery of approximately 20 of the trails and open
spaces in the Bermuda National Parks system. The
Google represent ative arrived in May 2015, and
commenced the work, which involved wearing a 50pound trekker kitted out with multiple cameras and a
hard drive which recorded as the operator walked.
The result is now evident for all to see on Google
Maps, free of charge, and provides a priceless
amount of exposure for Bermuda. Mr. Chairman, the Bermuda National Parks looks absolutely beautiful on
this media.


Bermuda House of Assembly Restrooms. The Planning team installed 24
new portaloos in the national parks. These portaloos
were used to replace o lder models which were beyond repair. We are pleased that we were also able to
assist the St. George’s Cricket Club, the America’s
Cup Bermuda, the International Race Weekend, and
the “Round the Island Boat Race” with their events by
providing restrooms for Cup Match and the boat race
in August 2015, and the preliminary America’s Cup
event on Front Street in October 2015, the Bermuda
Government Emergency Exercise in December 2015,
and at the Half Marathon and Marathon in January
2016.
A volunteer group of area residents cleaned
up parts of the Southampton Railway Trail with their
focus on the Riddell’s [Bay] Railway Station. This
wonderful group spent many days trucking away hun-dreds of bags of clothing as well as bulky household
items. They also pruned trees and cleaned the interpretive sign on site. The Park Planning Team worked
closely with the volunteers and this community pr ogramme.
Half-Court Basketball Court. The Planning
Team also reinstated a half -court basketball court at
Chaplin Bay Park. The half -court has been regularly
used since its completion in November 2015.
Parson’s Road Playground. The heavily
used Parson’s Road Playground was removed and
replaced with completely new equipment and re -
opened in August 2015, to the delight of the children
and the community. After -school programmes, chi ldren from the neighbourhood, and nursery school
groups enjoy the park daily, and it is also a popular
site for birthday parties and family gatherings.

Administration and Planning Operational Budget

Hon. L. Cra ig Cannonier: Mr. Chairman, the budget
for cost centre 78050, Administration and Planning, as
seen on page B -206, is $1,252,000. This is an i ncrease of $51,000, or 4 per cent over 2015/16, due to
the adjustment of salaries based on transferring a salary to the administration budget and the freezing of a
salary due to the early retirement initiative.

Staffing

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: The full -time equivalents
for cost centres 78050 and 78110 as seen on page B -
208 are nine.

Performance Measures

Hon. L. Cr aig Cannonier: Mr. Chairman, I direct you
to refer to the forecast of performance measures for
Administration and Planning, 78050, for 2015/16, on
page B -210. The forecast of tours and persons attending
tours in Botanical Gardens are 100 tours with 800 vi sitors expected to attend.
The forecast of park projects completed per
year is 16.
Agricultural Exhibition: Mr. Chairman, the D epartment of Parks did not produce the Agricultural E xhibition in 2015. Therefore, there are no performance measurements to repor t.
While the Department of Parks is not officially
hosting the Ag Show in 2016, we want the community to know that we are currently involved in working with
partners both in the public and private sector on the
show and are committed to ensuring that the E xhibition [will be] the success it has always been. Our
teams will be working to prepare the Botanical Gardens, including the Main Ring, for the Ag Show, and will also be working on the days of the show, by assisting with trash collection, parking, et cetera.

Programme 6805—Forts and Historical Sites

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: This section is responsible
for the management and interpretation of the cultural
resources that exist within the national parks. This
includes the forts and batteries, as well as lim ekilns,
museums, and magazines.
As part of our UNESCO World Heritage Site,
several projects were undertaken at Fort St. Catherine
and other East End forts:
At Fort St. Catherine:
• The guides at Fort St. Catherine, who are also responsible for the management of historic
sites in the National Parks, developed a new
tour for the UNESCO World Heritage site
forts. Entitled “World Heritage Fort Tour,” the
tour provides a military history of St. George’s,
the fort bus collects visitors from the Town Square, and fir st stops to Gates Fort, Alexa ndra Battery and on to Fort St. Catherine ident ifying historic landmarks and features during the entire journey, with commentary provided by one of the guides. The visitors then return to the Town Square. The response has been
so positive that Fort St. Catherine has r eceived two Trip Advisor Certificates of Exce llence in 2015, receiving 4.5 out of 5 stars. Our goal is receive a perfect 5[ -star rating]!
• A new promotional display including br ochures was designed and distributed to the
L.F. Wade International Airport, ferry term inals, visitor centres, and hotels. The suits of
armour which are used to hold the sign and
brochures have proven to be an eye- catching
display which visitors enjoy photographing.
• Google Street View recorded the interior and exterior of the Fort St. Catherine, along with
Martello Tower, Alexandra Battery, and Gates
Fort.
1332 9 March 2016 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly • Fort St. Catherine was also booked for nine
private functions, including weddings, birthday
parties, and cocktail receptions for Exempt Companies.
• Having recently celebrated 400 years, it is to
be expected that the “Old Girl,” Fort St. Cath erine, would require ongoing repairs. Ther efore, several maintenance projects were un-dertaken including upgrades to the pump and
water pipes; renovation of t he water tank and
tank cover; installation of replacement water
heater; air conditioning system replaced; r eception area flooring partially renovated.
• Minor works were also carried out at other
forts:
o At Alexandra Battery, the guns and
rails were rust -proofed and painted;
o At St. David’s Battery, the workshops
were cleaned and secured, the
benches were painted, and the storage shed was painted;
o At Martello Tower, the entrance was closed while we secured a new bridge
to traverse the moat. We expect that
the bridge will be installed by March
2016.

Forts and Historical Sites Operational Budget

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Mr. Chairman, the budget
for this cost centre is $412,000. This represents a
$17,000, or 4 per cent increase, as compared to the
2015/16 budget. The full -time equivalents for the cost
centre 78080, as seen on page B -208, is five emplo yees, which is the same as the current fiscal year.

Performance Measures

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Mr. Chairman, referring to
the forecast performance measures on pa ge B-210 for
fiscal 2015/16, we present the following forecasts for the end of this fiscal year:

Forecast Performance Measures for Forts and Hi storical Sites 78080

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: The forecast of adult a dmissions are 2,500. The numbers declined due to the
breakdown of the minibus used to transport visitors to
the fort during the peak season. However, the bus is
now repaired and is being used to collect and
transport visitors from the Town Square.
Forecast of interpretive tours conducted are
150. The Fort team has commenced running tours
from the Town Square to Fort St. Catherine and now that the bus is operational, we are pleased to report
the increase over 2014/15, which was 132.

Training Undertaken at the Department of Parks
Hon. L. Craig Can nonier: Mr. Chairman, the D epartment of Parks recognises the importance of hav-ing a trained and qualified team to equip them with the
knowledge and skills necessary to be effective in the workplace. To this end, we are proud to share that the
following has been achieved:
• One superintendent completed seminars in Pesticide Management, Warm Season Weed
Management, and Renovations and Construc-tion of Turf in Parks;
• The Government House landscape crew
completed a course [on] fertilizer application,
including lab el knowledge and carbon/nitrogen ratios for Bermuda, with Mike
Fisher from Fisher and Sons of Pennsylvania.
• With the wonderful discovery of turtles hatc hing at Alexandra Battery in the summer of
2015, five officers attended a turtle nesting i nformation ses sion to identify potential turtle
nesting sites on beaches in the national parks.
• Thirty one lifeguards were trained at the Royal
Life Saving Society Standard for the 2015
season.
• One officer enrolled at Bermuda College to
pursue an accounting certificate.
• The lifeguard superintendent renewed his
American Heart Association certification in
CPR and AED. This year he was trained in
the newest protocols which will then be taught
to the 2016 seasonal lifeguards and park
rangers.
• Finally, officers within the Department of
Parks undertook numerous courses on offer
by the Department of Human Resources, and we take this opportunity to thank them for the
excellent training that we received.

Proposed Projects for 2016/17

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Mr. Chairman, as we prepare for the upcoming fiscal year, and launch into the
peak season, the Department of Parks has planned to
undertake the following projects:
1. Installation of the next phase of replacement
restrooms. The new restrooms will be accessible, as they will meet the United States
Government's Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) standard.
2. Renovate the western field at Southlands for use as the Community Garden.
3. At Fort Cunningham the crews will cull the i nvasives which are growing in the moat.
4. Provision of Inter pretation Training for the
park rangers, fort guides, and the botanical
garden guides.
5. Summer/seasonal repairs and renovations to
several parks/beaches as necessary.


Bermuda House of Assembly 6. Various improvements to areas along the
Railway Trail including, fencing and surfacing
repairs, and installation of benches.
7. Native and endemic plants will be installed along the dunes at South Shore Park to r eplace those destroyed by recent hurricanes.
8. Martello Tower will have the new footbridge
across the moat installed.
9. At Fort St. Catherine , the footbridge and the
main gate will undergo replacement as they
have reached the end of their lifespan.
10. Lighting will be installed at the Parson’s Road Park basketball court in order to extend usage
at this popular site.
11. At Alexandra Battery, the shutt ers will be r eplaced.
12. The Harmony Hall Railway Station in Paget
will be converted to a mini -museum and w atering station, paying tribute to the legacy of
the railway trail and providing a refreshment
stop for the trail users.
13. Upgrades to plant collections i n Botanical
Gardens.
14. The boat slip at Kindley Field Park will be r epaired. We have had to postpone this project
in the past due to competing priorities and
hurricanes.
15. The Department of Parks will develop a formalised playground inspection and audit plan,
which is important. We keep hearing about
that, that we have an inspection and audit
plan, and I commend you, Director, for getting
that going because we continue to hear calls
about us doing that. So it is good to hear that. This will assist us in plannin g our resources
and staying on top of playground safety and
repairs for our kids and families.

The Department of Parks team works hard,
often in the hottest and coldest weather conditions, to
provide us with beautiful and safe parks. I want to take this o pportunity to thank them for their effort and I
thank the Director of Parks, Ms. Lisa- Dawn Johnston
and her staff for their dedication and service. And I am
sure many times they feel like it is a thankless job, but
I am grateful. I always say that when I c ame into the
Ministry I felt like the grass was above my head, you
know, and it is good to see that we have made great
headway, Director, with getting the island to what we
believe it should be. So thank you.
I have two more Heads and I am just going to
take another drink before I go to Public Lands and
Buildings.
I have got to slow down, Mr. Chairman.

No need to slow down.

[Laughter]

HEAD 81 —DEPARTME NT OF PUBLIC LANDS AND
BUILDINGS

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Thank you for your patience.
The Ministry of Public Works, Public Lands
and Buildings, Head 81, is found on pages B -211 to
B-213.
Mission statement, Mr. Chairman, it is the r esponsibility of the Department of Public Lands and
Buildings to “Efficiently manage the Government
property portfolio to enable the delivery of effective public services.” (I am just going to take another drink,
my throat is really, really dry.)
Mr. Chairman, the department provides a cri tical support role to ministries and departments to ensure that their real estate needs are met in order for
them to provide services to the public.
I will highlight throughout my presentation, the
programmes within the department as well as t he
plans for the upcoming fiscal year that are designed to
meet that responsibility. With that said, Mr. Chairman, I would like to provide the breakdown of the pr ogrammes under Head 81 as follows:
• Administration— 8100;
• Buildings —8101;
• Estates —8102;
• Land Sur veys—8103.

Mr. Chairman, the total budget allocated to
the Department of Public Lands and Buildings is $20,799,000 for Fiscal Year 2016/17, which repr esents an increase over the previous fiscal 2015/16
budget allocation of $277,000, as seen on page B -
211.
Whilst the increase in budget appears contr ary to the drive for reductions, it is a 1 per cent increase
and follows a 10 per cent reduction in the budget from
fiscal years 2013/14 to 2014/15, and a $10,000 reduc-tion in the 2014/15 to 2015/16 budget years. The i ncrease is mainly attributable to the addition of the
Lands and Survey section to the Department from
Land Title Registration and shows a commiserate r eduction in their budget. I will speak more to this when I
deal with Programme 8103, Lands Survey Manag ement.
Mr. Chairman, each year, I speak to the fact
that Government buildings continue to age and, with
the exception of the Dame Lois Browne- Evans Buil ding, are dated and reflect the business needs of a di fferent era. Choices need to be made as to whe ther we
continue to patch existing buildings or look to the f uture and invest the capital in constructing modern,
energy efficient buildings that meet today’s operation1334 9 March 2016 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly al needs. Whilst we have achieved savings on capital
spend over the years, the result is an increase in operational costs including repair, maintenance, and
electricity costs, and we are now seeing increasing
capital costs as building components fail.
Notwithstanding this fact, Mr. Chairman, the
Department of Public Lands and Buildings will conti nue to do their best to efficiently utilise these funds to manage Government’s buildings and lands.
The department has completed the first wor king draft of the Property Asset Management plan for the Government estate. The plan has identified what
Gove rnment owns and what it rents from the private
sector. It looks to how the land and buildings are currently being used and provides a road map to more efficient utilisation of these assets in the future to help
deliver the corporate priorities and services of the
Bermuda Government. It has also identified properties that do not meet our current or identifiable future
needs and could potentially be disposed of.
One of our key resources is our human r esources. It is not just about hiring and retaining the
right people for the job, it is about their development
and succession planning. The department has a total
complement of 161 staff, as seen on page B -212. The
department is committed to providing continued trai ning opportunities to the staff. It provides for a well -
educated and motivated workforce with opportunities
for advancement both within Government and the pr ivate sector.
To this end, the department’s expenditure on
training has increased from $29,000 to $55,000, an
increase of $26,000, or 90 per cent, as can be seen
on page B -212.
Mr. Chairman, the department has, as with
other departments, been subject to the recruitment
freeze. Unfortunately, this together with the fact that it
is a challenge to recruit and retain Bermudian professional staff across the range of disciplines required by
this Ministry continues to provide a challenge for the department. As a result, only one professional post
was filled this year, by a Bermudian, who, unfortunat ely, did not stay on. There are currently two vacant pr ofessional posts and 11 vacant industrial posts that are
subject to the freeze, and permission is being sought
to fill the posts.
Mr. Chairman, during the Fiscal Year 2016/17,
the Estates Section will continue to provide estate
management services to all Government ministries.
This section will also progress its work on the Government’s Estate Management Objectives, which a ddresses such items as the regularisation of encroachments both on the Railway Trail and foreshore,
and the implementation of a strategic i nitiative to mi nimise Government's rental payments to third parties. I
will speak more to the direction this section will take in 2016/17 in detail when I discuss cost centre 91004,
Property Asset Management, in a moment. The health and safety of employees who work
in our buildings and members of the public visiting for
Government services, continues to be a high priority.
The department works closely with the Health and
Safety Office to remediate any issues found in Go vernment -owned properties in order to mitigate the risk
to both employees and members of the public. Inclu ded with this is the Government schools and the health and safety of our students and staff.
Mr. Chairman, on page B -211, you will note
that there are now four main programmes for the D epartment of Public Lands and Buildings, namely:
• Administration— 8100;
• Buildings —8101;
• Estates —8102;
• Land Surveys Management —8103.

I will now consider and comment on the department’s four programmes in a little more detail.

8100 —ADMINISTRATION

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: The total budget is
$481,000. The Administration Programme is split be-tween two cost centres, namely:
• Administration— 91000, ($172,000);
• Training and Apprenticeship —91001,
($309,000).

The Administration Program whose objective
is “to provide administrative support for the Estates and Buildings sections” has a budget of $481,000, split into two cost centres. When compared with the
$236,000 allocation during Fiscal Year 2015/16, this
budgeted amount represents an increase of $245,000,
or a 104 per cent increase. I will speak to the reason
for this increase in a moment.
Within the department there are two main sections, the Buildings and Estates sections. The Estates
section is responsible for the management of the
Government estate and the Buildi ngs section is r esponsible for its maintenance and repair. This pr ogramme comprises mainly the director of the depar tment and the trainees and apprentices.
Mr. Chairman, the Administration, cost centre
91000, has a specific budget allocation of $172,000
for Fiscal Year 2016/17, which represents a decrease
of $64,000, or 27 per cent. This compares to the
$236,000 allocated in the 2015/16 budget. These sav-ings were made by transferring one post from this cost
centre to cost centre 91002.

91001—Training and A pprenticeship

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: The Training and Apprenticeship, cost centre 91001, which had no budget for Fiscal Year 2015/16, has a budget allocation for
2016/17 of $309,000. The reason for the large i ncrease is that the apprentices and training budget


Bermuda House of Assembly were previously attached to cost centre 91003, within
the Buildings Programme, 8101. The purpose of this
programme is to recruit graduates to train as estates
and building surveyors as well as apprentices for the trades. Unfortunately, the program has been unable to
recruit graduates with degrees that were exempting
degrees by the Royal Institute of Chartered Surve yors.
Exempting degrees would mean that the
graduates would only require two years work exper ience to achieve their professional designation. Wit hout the exempting degree, graduates, who already have three or four years of college under their belt,
were looking at another three years of college to get
an exempting degree and then a further two years of
work experience before gaining the pr ofessional surveying designation. This is quite a commitment to ask
of anyone, basically asking them to start college all
over again after just graduating.
So, Mr. Chairman, the department recognises
that the key is to get high school students at the S3
level to consider taking the exempting degrees as
their first choice for college/university. To this aim, the
department is offering bursaries to any Bermudian
student who takes an exempting degree. (I am glad
these guys are doing this.) Unfortunately, we h ave
had no applications for bursaries over the last few years, so this is a cry out to Bermudians. To combat this, a Bermudian estates surveyor and a building surveyor will be visiting schools to present to S3 students
the advantages of a career in surveyi ng including the
financial assistance that Government will offer. This is
fantastic, Mr. Chairman, I am really, really glad to see
this here.
Mr. Chairman, interested students will have
the opportunity to work during the summer holidays
with Government sur veyors from a number of disc iplines. Those that then apply and start an exempting
course with a Government bursary will be “adopted”
by the department and assigned a mentor. We will work closely with that student ensuring employment
opportunities during ho lidays and their development.
This trainee budget will then be refinanced and the
post reactivated as they near graduation to ensure that they have a position within the department on
graduation. They will then be rotated through a number of departments to get a variety of surveying experiences to achieve their professional designation.
Once staff achieve their professional designation, continuing professional development is an annual requirement. To maintain their professional design ation, from the director to the most recently qualified, staff are then required to follow a structured pr ogramme of continuing professional development, r eferred to as “CPD.” The department has identified a
number of distance learning modules offered by the
Royal Institute of C hartered Surveyors that the department will pay for if the staff enrol and complete the
course. These modules are seen as core competen-cies for staff and will gain them certificates in facilities
management and project management.
Whilst the title of this cost centre includes apprentices, allocated funding for apprentices used to
appear under cost centre 91003. This has been cor-rected in the Fiscal Year 2016/17 budget, so that both
the apprentices and all training costs are budgeted
shown under cost centre 91001. You will note the
commitment that the department, and indeed the Mi nistry, has to succession planning and training. I have mentioned previously that the backbone of the d epartment is the trades. The department has a structured apprenticeship program me for the trades to e nsure succession planning in this critical area. These
programmes include those pursuing certifications in
electronics, carpentry, plumbing, air conditioning at
the Bermuda College.
Currently, there are four apprentices: one in
the p lumbing programme; two in electrical; and one in
heating, ventilation and air conditioning, commonly referred to as “HVAC.” We also offer team building and leadership for the staff to provide a career path
through foreman and superintendent posts with furt her
opportunities for gaining qualifications that open up
senior management posts to those with the aptitude.
Mr. Chairman, in the 2015/16 Fiscal Year this
cost centre had no employees or full -time equivalents.
In the 2016/17 Fiscal Year, there will be a total of six
employees made up of five apprentices brought over
from cost centre 91003, and one trainee surveyor post
budgeted for in Fiscal Year 2015/16, being unfrozen
and budgeted for in the 2016/17 Fiscal Year.

8101 —Buildings Section

Hon. L. Craig Ca nnonier: The total budget is
$9,567,000. The Buildings Program is split between two cost centres, namely:
• Services Management —91002, ($1,071,000);
• Maintenance —91003, ($8,496,000).

Mr. Chairman, the Buildings Programme, as
seen on page B -211, has a mandate “to effectively
manage the maintenance, repair and minor renovation of all government buildings.” It is led by the Buildings
Manager, Mr. Stephen Tucker, with a total budget of $9,567,000.
Mr. Chairman, when compared with the
$10,027,000 allocation during Fiscal Year 2015/16,
this budgeted amount represents a decrease of
$460,000, or 5 per cent over the prior year. As mentioned earlier, the transfer out of this cost centre of the
apprentices caused a $309,000 reduction in this cost
centre. In addition, a s avings of $151,000 was made,
mainly through reductions in the budget for the contractors’ cost centre.
Mr. Chairman, there have been other increases and savings made in this programme to reflect the changing work. In particular, the overtime budget has
1336 9 March 2016 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly increased from $100,000 in Fiscal Year 2015/16 to
$500,000 in Fiscal Year 2016/17. The budget for overtime had been significantly cut in Fiscal Year 2015/16
as it was anticipated that the rate of pay for overtime
was going to be renegotiated with the unions. This did not transpire and the actual overtime cost for the department required savings having to be made in other
areas. The budget for 2016/17 overtime reflects the
actual need and anticipated cost. Savings have been
made in the materials’ cost centre to offset the i ncrease.
The Building Maintenance funds are used for
the operational costs associated with the maintenance
and repair work to over 800 Government -owned buil dings, including Government schools. The Buildings
Section employs 137 staff and is als o responsible for
the preparation for major Government events such as the Opening of Parliament, and the General Election
Polling Stations, among others.

91002— Service Management

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Mr. Chairman, the Service
Management cost centre, 91002, has a specific bud get allocation of $1,071,000 for Fiscal Year 2016/17. When compared with the $1,046,000 allocated for the
Fiscal Year 2015/16, this budgeted amount represents an increase of $25,000, or 2 per cent. This increase is
attributed to t he change in full -time equivalents for this
section increasing from 13 for the financial year
2015/16, to 14 for the year 2016/17. No new post has
been created, but as I mentioned earlier, a post has
been moved from cost centre 91000.

91003—Maintenance

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Mr. Chairman, the Maint enance, cost centre 91003, as seen on page B -211,
has a specific budget allocation of $8,496,000 for the Fiscal Year 2016/17. When compared with the
$8,981,000 allocation for the Fiscal Year 2015/16, this
represents a decrease of $485,000, or 5 per cent. I
spoke to the reason for the decrease earlier.
Mr. Chairman, the Building programme total
labour force of full -time employees, in both cost ce ntres, 91002 and 91003, stands at 137 as opposed to
142 in Fiscal Year 2015/16. The reduction is as a r esult of the move of the five apprentices to cost centre
91001. In addition, one post was added to 91002 from
91000 and two posts —I hope this does not get too
confusing—and two posts added from 91004 to cost centre 91003. However, some three posts were frozen in 91003 owing to early retirement, leading to a net
reduction in the cost centres 91002 and 91003, of five
employees.
The manpower is spread across administr ative staff, management, and the various work units. By balancing the workforce across all trades, [this] ensures that each work unit has sufficient tradesmen to deal with the various maintenance requests that the
depot receives on a daily basis.
Whilst our “in house” workforce will continue
to be the first choi ce for works, they will continue to be
complemented by a wide -ranging group of private
contractors. These contractors provide services such
as, general maintenance, painting, asbestos abat ement, mould abatement, plumbing, cleaning, and fire
alarm inspections, to name a few. This supports the
Government’s ongoing commitment to provide opportunities for local companies as well as maintain a mi nimal lean workforce to meet our needs.
Mr. Chairman, the goal is to employ sufficient
staff to carry out the ongoing maintenance of our
property portfolio and use private contractors where
needed. Owing to the age and obsolescence of many
of our buildings, maintenance and improvements puts an increasing demand on our limited resources. Ho wever, there is a balance between hiring too many staff
and wasting resources and hiring too few staff and
becoming too reliant on contractors for day -to-day
maintenance. It would be a waste of resources to be
staffed for every building specialty and potential pr oject. The only time that the balance is severely challenged is after hurricanes when demands on contractors from the private sector often trump our requests. I
am proud of our in- house team, and our tradesmen
are amongst the best on the Island, and provide qual ity work and value f or money.
The recent replacement of the hurricane
damaged roof at the Jack King Building within the B otanical Gardens is a great example of this. It was quality work, Mr. Chairman, quality work done in a very
short period of time under those constraints. So it is
good to see that our people can deliver in such a tim ely fashion.
Mr. Chairman, the Buildings Section staff has
a complement of two building surveyors, who assist
with the creation of schedule of conditions of our buildings with the goal of improving the maintenance
program. The condition of our buildings provides a
significant challenge to our limited resources. Prioriti sing works and a preventative maintenance program is
key to success in this area and to the property asset
management plan.
Thes e surveyors are also responsible for developing the scope of works and tendering out of m ajor capital projects to the private sector. Once Cabinet has approved the award of the contract, the building
surveyors then issue the contracts and the project
manager then [sees] the contract on through to com-pletion.

8102 —Estates Section

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Programme 8102, Estates,
total budget is $10,484,000.
[The Estates program is split between three
cost centres, namely:]


Bermuda House of Assembly • Property Asset Management —91004,
($3,881,000);
• Insurance— 91005, ($6,603,000);
• Government Rentals —91006, (nothing there).

Mr. Chairman, the mandate of the Estates
Programme is to effectively manage the Government
estate, to provide insurance cover on all Government
buildings, and to facil itate and secure office and res idential accommodations for Government departments as needed. This section is led by the Senior Estates
Surveyor, Ms. Sudell Joseph.
The Estates Section provides property and
land-related management service to all Government
ministries and departments. This service includes i nsurance, acquisition, letting, rental, and disposal of
land and property across the Island. The section is the
custodian of the foreshore and seabed and is responsible for licences and leasing of same.
Mr. Chairman, the Property Asset Management cost centre, 91004, together with the Insurance
cost centre, 91005, and Government Rentals cost centre, 91006, have a total allocation of $10,484,000
for Fiscal Year 2016/17, as seen on page B -211.
When compared t o the $10,259,000 for Fiscal Year
2015/16, this represents an increase of $225,000, or
2 per cent.
Property Asset Management cost centre,
91004, as seen on page B -211, has a total allocation
of $3,881,000 for Fiscal Year 2016/17. When co mpared to the $3, 751,000 for Fiscal Year 2015/16, this
budget represents an increase of $130,000, or 3 per
cent.
Mr. Chairman, the reason for the increase is
mainly for an increase in the rental budget to cover
the rents for WEDCO properties that we rent for other
Government departments, and for the new IT sof tware. The existing IT system used by the department is called PIMS [Property Information Management
System] and was developed in 1998 as a bespoke system to meet the requirements of the department at
that time. It has, unfortunately, reached the end of its
working life and requires replacement in the short
term. The department has gone through a procur ement process to identify an off -the-shelf system that
will provide an integrated software package that i ncludes facilit ies management, estates management,
and project management components.
Mr. Chairman, the Estates team has conti nued to be hindered, as in the past, by not being fully staffed. The section has lost one of the new professional staff that joined the ranks las t year, leaving two
professional posts vacant. The new hiring freeze has
meant that approval has not yet been granted to fill
these posts and they will remain vacant until approval
is granted. The result of this is that the section is not fully staffed for the 2016/17 Fiscal Year and unable to
be proactive and more efficient in the delivery of the
various property services provided. However, mindful of the need to make savings, the section will continue to work diligently with
the resources at its disposal to deliver on its mandate.

Asset Management Plan

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: The first draft of the property asset management plan has been completed and comprises a number of elements. The property assets
have been identified and recorded. Government -
owned buildings are being audited to ensure that the
existing occupiers are the most suitable occupiers for the space, and that they are making the most efficient
use of the space. A similar exercise is being carried
out for properties that are rented from the private sector. The goal is to maximise the efficient use of real estate, minimise our footprint, and thereby lowering the cost of renting space from the private sector. To
this aim, the rent roll found on pages C -25, C -26 and
C-27 for the 2016/17 Fiscal Y ear is reduced from
$9,643,368 to $9,486,433, A savings of $156,935, or
1.6 per cent. The reductions were achieved through a
combination of reducing the amount of space rented and renegotiating rents to current levels of market
value at rent review and lease renewal. And we are
grateful for our team being able to make those savings through that.
The property asset management plan is the
key to properly managing the Government estate. We are following the international best practice guidelines
of the Royal I nstitute of Chartered Surveyors to:
• prioritise property asset management;
• link the property asset management plan to
Government’s corporate vision;
• link property asset management with all corporate strategies;
• review arrangements for capital asset pla nning;
• consider all practical options for financing of
new property assets;
• ensure that mechanisms are in place to
measure customer satisfaction;
• collect, analyse, store, and keep updated all relevant property asset data;
• outline the objectives for each property asset;
• establish clear strategic approaches to the ut ilisation of space and flexible working and colocation with partners and stakeholders;
• conduct post -implementation reviews of all
capital projects; and
• engage with other organisations and share
learning to drive a process of continuous i mprovement.

Mr. Chairman, there are over 30 Government -
owned buildings that stand vacant and in various
states of disrepair. These include Teucer House, the
Old Hamilton Police Station, and the Bishop Spencer
1338 9 March 2016 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly Schoo l, amongst others. Part of the rationalisation of
the Government property portfolio through the property asset management plan will be to bring properties
that are needed back into use and to dispose of those
properties that do not meet our current or anti cipated
future needs. This past year there have been some
successes with the Valerie T. Scott Building being
renovated and brought back into operation to house
the new PATI commissioner and her staff.
Dominica Cottage was also refurbished after
being vacant for a number of years and is now occ upied by the Ministry of Tourism’s hotel inspectors. The
Department of Telecommunications and Energy was
relocated from a private sector rented building to
Government -owned accommodation and recognised
some $168,630 per annum in savings. All good stuff.

Disposals

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Mr. Chairman, you may
recall my recent interview with the Royal Gazette
where I advised that it was my intent to bring a number of properties forward for sale as they did not meet
our current or anticipated future needs. For the most
part, the Public Estate [was] developed, not by design
with a specific long- term plan to fit public service r equirements, but land resources came from unwanted
military lands with buildings which were later recycled
for new purposes or demolished and redeveloped. A
major part of the land in the Estate came to the Go vernment from the Crown Lands Corporation after the
British military left the Island in the 1950s. Further,
former military lands were left to G overnment in the
1990s with the closures of the US Base in St David’s,
the Southampton Naval Annex, and Tudor Hill Station
adding significant tracts of land to the public estate.
Much of the land has been vested into a number of
quangos to manage and maint ain, including the BHC,
BLDC and WEDCO.
Mr. Chairman, the estate still being directly
managed by the Ministry of Public Works is being r eviewed and those properties that have been identified for sale will shortly be brought before the House for approval for sale. It is important to note that these
properties are not needed for current or anticipated
operations and are therefore surplus to Government’s requirements. It is hoped that not only will the sales
generate revenue, but reduce maintenance costs and
provide an economic opportunity. And as I said before, the Asset Management Plan that we have been going through is quite extensive, and it has helped in
a large way to identify these properties.

Facilities Management

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Mr. Chairman, the Royal
Institute of Chartered Surveyors defines facilities
management as the effective management of place
and space, integrating an organisation’s support infr a-structure to deliver services to staff and customers at
best value whilst enhancing organi sational performance.
This is the guiding ethos of the Department of
Public Lands and Buildings and the director has
committed to delivering on it. The department is currently carrying out a review of the Government space
standards with a view to a new standard that makes
more efficient use of space and provides a comfort able and safe working environment. I spoke last year of ensuring that we make efficient use of space as every square foot of a Government building that is not eff iciently being used is wast ed and we have to rent
space from the private sector. We must reduce our footprint and make meaningful savings in the process.
To this end, the department has been working with the
architects, management services, and interior design-ers on a new style of office that will reduce the current
layout by up to 35 per cent, and hope to have a model
office within a Government building within the financial year.

Insurance

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Mr. Chairman, $6,603,000,
under Programme 8102, is allocated to cos t centre
91005, as seen on page B -211, for the provision of
insurance coverage for Fiscal Year 2016/17. When
compared to the $6,436,000 from the Fiscal Year
2015/16, this amount represents an increase of
$167,000, or 3 per cent. The insurance paid for out of
this cost centre includes buildings, marine fleet, vehicle fleet, and the general public liability coverage.

Insurance Settlement

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Mr. Chairman, I am
pleased to report that agreement has been reached on the final settlement wi th our insurance company for
the property damage in Hurricanes Fay and Gonzalo.
The claim includes the quangos, golf courses, National Stadium, and Government properties and totals
some $25 million. Government insures over 1,200
properties and more than half suffered some form of
hurricane damage.

[Mrs. Susan E. Jackson, Chairman]

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Mr. Chairman—Madam
Chairman, sorry I did not look up—Government’s
Rental Budget, cost centre 91006, has no budget all ocation for Fiscal Year 2016/17, as compared to the
allocation of $72,000 for Fiscal Year 2015/16. This
cost centre is used to pay rents and deposits for pro perty from the private sector for departments that r equire more accommodation or [while] we are renovating their existing space. Thes e are now budgeted either by the department themselves or against each
project where the move is as a result of works being


Bermuda House of Assembly undertaken. In addition, there are two buildings that
are available and used as swing space for temporary
accommodation reducing the need to rent any further
temporary space, so you understand what we are d oing there.

Land Survey Management

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Madam Chairman, pr ogramme 8103, Land Surveys, with cost centre 91007,
has been added to the department’s budget this yea r
with a budget of $267,000, and three full -time e mployees. As I mentioned earlier, this section has been
moved from the Land Title and Registration Depar tment to the Department of Public Lands and Buildings
under the chief surveyor. The work of this secti on is
more aligned with that of the department and is a
much better fit.
This section is led by Senior Land Surveyor,
Mr. Sean Patterson, with a broad and demanding land
surveying responsibility. This team provides traditional
and specialised land surveying expertise and gui dance for the Bermuda Government; for example, they
establish, maintain, and update a National Control
Monument Network across Bermuda, ensuring that
private land survey companies have a standardised
and internationally compatible coordi nate system to
utilise; they perform and advise on hydrographic surveying and survey projects pertaining towards the
Global Positioning System which includes modelling
the gravity field under Bermuda.
Madam Chairman, a total of 24 individual land
surveying requests have been performed this fiscal
year, equating to 31 per cent of this section’s total accomplishments. Some examples of the engineering
tasks are the Store Hill Railway Trail Foot Bridge; the
Black Watch Pass roundabout; and the Severn and
Swing Bridge in St. George’s; Cadastral surveys pertaining to post offices for sale; and topographic sur-veys pertaining to various road improvement schemes; and other infrastructure maintenance
schemes.
Madam Chairman, the Survey Section has an
increasing demand for mapping products and Ge ographic Information System (GIS) data. To be able to
support the Bermuda Government and the mapping
needs, this small team must collect, analyse, quantify
and disseminate all types of spatially related data.
Examples range from a specific request for all public
road drains and soakaways to be mapped for a maintenance schedule; to collect sewer system data
for the Town of St. George’s, which is just one dataset
component for a National Waste Management Initi ative; to update previ ous map datasets with the newest
Topographic Map Data collected in 2012. Examples of
updating include the new KEMH [King Edward VII
Memorial Hospital] additions, the new Hamilton Pri ncess marina, and the new Black Watch Roundabout.
They also provide advice and assistance to other Government departments to help disseminate this
newer data as well as specialised department data.
Madam Chairman, there is nothing pretty
about this type of work; it is slow; it is tedious, and the
demands this year have increased since last year. [There were] 54 Government mapping tasks acco mplished this fiscal year, equating to 69 per cent for this
section’s total accomplishments.
For example, the justice system alone r equested 39 tasks pertaining to Increased Penalty Zones and major court cases; murders, et cetera.
These cases often require the senior land surveyor to
attend court and testify to their validity, a further d emand of the section’s precious time. The Department
of Public Prosecutions states these map products
contribute significantly towards convictions. Another
example is the EMO regarding tsunami awareness
and potential surge mapping. This section is helping
the National Disaster Coordinator to produce Emergency Disaster Directives and increased awareness
through special mapping products.
Madam Chairman, besides the standard surveying practices and GIS mapping that this small sec-tion conducts, they also provide advice and technical
knowledge towards much larger and demanding pr ojects. For example, the Morgan’s Point Act amendment plans alone required 45 days worth of time and was accomplished in less than one month. This goes
to exemplify that they are willing to go the extra mile to
accomplish their tasks as quickly as possible.
Madam Chairman, the Survey Section i s looking to increase efficiency and effectiveness by utilising Geographic Information System (GIS) based software to reduce processing time and increase the availability
across the Government and out into the public.

Capital

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: I now move to the Capital
Expenditure Estimates, as seen on page C -6, which
has a total budget $7,817,000.
The Programme has five cost centres, nam ely:
• Major Building Upgrade— 75112,
($2,670,000);
• Bathrooms upgrade GAB/GPO —75298,
($147,000);
• All Schools Mainte nance— 75309,
($2,000,000);
• Sandys 360—75326, ($1,000,000);
• Horseshoe Bay Beach —75327, ($2,000,000).

The Capital Expenditure Estimates for the
Department of Public Lands and Buildings can be found on page C -6 of the Capital Development, for the
Fiscal Year 2016/17, of $7,817,000. Compared to
$4,050,000 for the 2015/16 Fiscal Year, this repr esents an increase of $3,767,000, or 93 per cent.
1340 9 March 2016 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly Madam Chairman, the Capital Expenditure for
the Major Buildings Upgrade, cost centre 75112, has
an allocation of $2,670 ,000 for the Fiscal Year
2016/17. When compared to the allocation of $2,000,000 for Fiscal Year 2015/16, this represents an increase of $670,000, or 33 per cent.
The Capital Expenditure for the All School
Maintenance, cost centre 75309, has an allocation o f
$2 million. When compared to the allocation of
$1,500,000, for Fiscal Year 2015/16, this represents
an increase over the Fiscal Year 2015/16 of $500,000, or 33 per cent.
The increase in these capital cost centres is
as a result of the increasing age of G overnment buil dings and need for upgrades including electrical, plumbing, and mechanical to ensure the buildings r emain operational. And we are grateful that we were able to get those increases.

Capital Works Completed

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Whilst som e capital pr ojects for the 2015/16 Fiscal Year were necessitated by damage caused by recent hurricanes, a number of
projects were completed without fanfare including:
• the installation of new windows at the General
Post Office Building in Hamilton;
• refurbis hed bathrooms on Palmetto Road;
• new roofs on buildings at Port’s and Darrell’s
Islands;
• refurbished bathrooms on the third floor of the
General Post Office Building in Hamilton;
• the refurbishment of the Valarie T. Scott Buil ding;
• the refurbishment Dominica Cottage;
• a new roof on the restaurant at the lighthouse in Southampton (and I must say, I just wanted
to make a note here that we regularly went up
to see these guys, they put a taskforce team on there and it was unbelievable how quickly
they finished that project and it was fantastic
to see the final work there);
• a new roof on the Jack King Building at the
Botanical Gardens, another fine example of
our team working well together to get stuff
done;
• a new roof on the Catterick Building in St.
George’s;
• Major roof repairs at Elliot School;
• A new roof system to replace the old asbestos
roof at the Prospect Depot;
• and there are others.

Capital Projects Underway

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: There are a number of pr ojects that have already begun and will span the financial years including: • A new fire suppression and climate control
system for Archives in the basement of the
Government administration building across
from us;
• The replacement of five roofs at the quarry,
including a number of asbestos roofs;
• A new roo f system on the Reverse Osmosis
plant in St. George’s;
• Lefroy House roof repairs;
• A new roof on the JJ Outerbridge Building at the Botanical Gardens;
• Roof repairs and replacement to a number of buildings at the Police Prospect complex.

Capital Works Plann ed

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Madam Chairman, works
planned for the Fiscal Year 2016/17 will include:
• the sealing and painting of the exterior of both
the Government Administration Building and
General Post Office Building in the City of
Hamilton, as well as much -needed plumbing
upgrades;
• New windows for the Government Administr ation Building;
• New HVAC plant for Global House;
• The Cabinet building will be refurbished both
internally and externally, with new locally
made custom wood windows being installed
to match the existing, together with plumbing,
electrical and HVAC upgrades;
• The Sylvia Richardson Care Facility will be painted externally and also receive plant u pgrades;
• This very House will receive some much needed attention such as instituting a new access route to the roof to enable workmen safe
access (and that is at the moment, you will
see outside on the back here . . . well, you
may not see, but if you go out there you will
see our workers have been diligent out on the porch here [building] a walkway to make it
much safer for them to get on the roof to make sure that we have cool air in this wonderfully hot place at times), [new windows, further electrical upgrades, and a new HVAC
system];
• The roof will be replaced at the Supreme
Court #3 Building on Front Street, which is
much needed;
• The refurbishment of the Teucer House property to provide Government offices.

Madam Chairman, the Capital Expenditure for
the proposed bathroom upgrades at the Government
Administration Building and General Post Office has
been given an allocation of $147,000 for 2016/17.
When compared to the allocation of $150,000 for Fi sBermuda House of Assembly cal Year 2015/16, this represents a reduction of
$3,000, or 2 per cent.
The bathrooms on the second and fourth
floors of the General Post Office and G overnment
Administration Buildings have been tendered out and
the contract will soon be awarded to complete these
floors. Once these works are completed, works will
begin on the lower floor bathrooms. The works on the
third floor bathrooms were completed w ith minimum
disruption so that the occupants were not unduly i nconvenienced.

Sandys 360

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Madam Chairman, one
capital account has been allocated capital funds this
year that was not allocated funds in Fiscal Year 2015/16; namely, S andys 360, or business unit
75326. A total of $1,000,000 has been allocated for
the purchase of the property from the trustees of
Sandys 360. The purchase is subject to final agreement with the trustees and subject to the approval of the Legislature. More details of this purchase and the
reason for it will be presented to the House, if final
agreement is reached with the Trustees.

Horseshoe Bay

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Madam Chairman, $2 mi llion has been allocated for works at Horseshoe Bay, 75327. The c apital funds will be used to address u pgrade requirements to the mechanical infrastructure
as well as the construction of the new transportation
hub in the parking lot.
Madam Chairman, with the two Capital E xpenditures for the Major Buildings Upgrade, cost centre 75112, and All School Maintenance, cost centre 75309, the Buildings team shall continue to enhance
its planned and preventative maintenance plan to
counteract the costly measures associated with a r eactive approach. Besides the cost benefits of a
planned approach, there is the added bonus of minimising the disruption to the occupants.
The importance of properly planned maint enance has been highlighted by ongoing discoveries of
mould. Most major Government buildings were constructed more than 30 year s ago. Over the past 20 to
30 years, many of our facilities have received only basic re- active maintenance and no planned or pr ogrammed maintenance. This practice has resulted in a portfolio of buildings that are currently facing major
refurbishment needs, with their physical plant and m ajor systems having reached the end of their life cycle.
The evaluation as to whether such buildings should be
refurbished or even demolished will be assessed
through the Property Asset Plan being prepared by
our Estates Sec tion which will guide us through future
maintenance decisions.
School Works

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: During Fiscal Year
2016/17, the Buildings Section will utilise cost centre 75309, or the All Schools Maintenance vote, to com-plete many projects that dem onstrate our varied abil ities and skill sets. The Buildings team will continue to
work closely with the Ministry of Education to develop
a planned maintenance programme by identifying and
prioritising works based on safety and health, infr astructure, and s chool operations. These works need to
be carefully planned to coincide with school holidays to minimise disruption to the school programmes.
Teams from the Buildings Section have already begun
inspections of the schools to identify and prioritise r epairs f or the new fiscal year.
Madam Chairman, the Ministry of Public
Works has responsibility for the maintenance of some
30 schools including pre- schools, primary, and middle
schools. Ensuring that schools are ready for the new
school year in September is not j ust limited to the
buildings as there are a number of other depar tments/sections responsible for items such as the IT, grounds (parks), cleaning (custodians), materials and
supplies, et cetera.
Madam Chairman, many of the schools are
dated and require extensive maintenance and repairs.
They were designed and built for another era that did
not envision air conditioning, computers, and smart
boards. Most maintenance works cannot be completed during the school year for health and safety reasons and to minimise the disruption to classes. The
majority of the work is therefore planned for and completed when the children are out on vacation. The
longest vacation is the summer holidays which begin
at the end of June and run through to early September
when the new sc hool year begins.
Madam Chairman, the financial year 2015/16
summer maintenance project began in April with
crews inspecting and identifying maintenance and
repair issues for each school. The scope of works for
each school was then drawn up and agreed with the
facilities manager from the Ministry of Education. The
works were then planned to start as soon as the hol idays began. Some works which were deemed not to pose a risk to staff or students were begun before the schools closed for the summer. In addition, summer
works had to take into account and work around
summer programmes that are run in some of the
schools.
The planned works were extensive and i nvolved seven work units with over 120 staff including HVAC crews, electricians, plumbers, carpenters, m asons, and painters. All staff of the Buildings Section of
the Ministry were fully engaged in these works right through the summer.
The scope of works and tight time frame r equired additional resources to assist in this project. As such, contracts were awarded to companies to paint
1342 9 March 2016 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly the interior and exterior of Clearwater, Dame Marjorie
Bean, Francis Patton, Lagoon Park Preschool, Lyc eum Preschool, Northlands Primary, Paget Primary,
Port Royal Primary, and Somerset Primary School. In
addition, our own crews painted Southampton Pr eschool.
Whilst $1,500,000 was budgeted for school
works for Fiscal Year 2015/16, a revised estimate i ncreased this to $3,500,000 as the works got underway
and the scope of works increased. As the works were
essential to ensure that the schools were open for the
new school year, savings were made in other capital
accounts. The goal was to ensure that critical works
were completed before the start of the new school
year and that no school would be unable to open for the new school year ow ing to maintenance issues.
That goal was met and I would like to take this oppor-tunity to recognise the buildings team and the facilities
management team from the Ministry of Education who
worked so hard over the summer to ensure the
schools were ready for the New Year .
Madam Chairman, as stated, the school
works project for 2016/17 has already begun with the Department working with the Ministry of Education
and the recently released School Reorganisation A dvisory Committee’s Report of Findings and Recommendations (SCORE Report) in identifying the priority works. Schools identified to be cleaned and painted
internally and externally include Devonshire Pr eschool, Warwick Preschool, St David’s Primary
School, and Victor Scott Primary School.
Daily there are m any small projects undertaken and completed by the buildings team. Many go
unnoticed by the public and are carried out with little
or no disruption to Government services. Irrespective
of size or scope, great emphasis was placed on ensuring that the work w as carried out to the highest
possible standards by the mostly all -Bermudian
teams.
Madam Chairman, revenue for the 2016/17
Fiscal Year can be found on page B -212 and is est imated at $4,900,000, which includes $3 million from
property asset sales. There is an anticipated increase
in the 8795 rental code from $1,500,000 in 2015/16 to
$1,900,000 in 2016/17 to reflect foreshore lease i ncreases.
The details of the $3 million property sales
and the list of the proposed properties will shortly be brought to the House for approval.
Madam Chairman, the 2016/17 Fiscal Year
will present many of the same challenges as the pr evious years. The primary objective this year will be to
complete and begin implementation of the Property
Asset Management Plan. It is to efficiently manage
the Government property portfolio to enable the deli very of effective public services.
Madam Chairman, as I conclude the Budget
Brief for Head 81, the Department of Public Lands and
Buildings, it is important to note that charismatic lead-ership alone does not get the job done. It is the hard
work, professionalism, and dedication of the staff that gets the job done, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank the team at Public Lands and Buildings
for doing just that, getting the job done. Director Mr.
Farrow, again, I want to thank you for many great pr ogrammes that you guys have in place for apprentices
and trainees of Bermudians, and it should be noted,
continuously.
I now move to Head 82.

HEAD 82 —DEPARTMENT OF WORKS AND ENG INEERING

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Head 82, Department of
Works and Engineering, is found on pages B -214 to
B-220.
Madam Chairman, the Department of Works
and Engineering is responsible for the provision of essential services to the Bermuda public and the
maintenance of highly visible major elements of the
Government infrastructure which are extremely i mportant to the way Bermuda functions as a civilized and modern society. The range of varied and unique
activities covered by the department includes: garbage collectio n and disposal; road maintenance and
repairs; bridge maintenance; Government vehicle maintenance, as well as safe water extraction, treat-ment, and distribution.
Services such as safe disposal of hazardous
substances, disposal of vehicles and construction m aterials, recycling, composting, the maintenance and repairs of the Government’s infrastructure, which i ncludes roads, bridges, docks, and street lighting, are also carried out by this department.
The professionalism and commitment that the
staff and workf orce have demonstrated throughout the
year needs to be applauded and I would like to take a moment to recognize the men and women of the D epartment of Works and Engineering.
Madam Chairman, there are seven operational sections of the department: Highways; Structures;
Electrical/Mechanical; Solid Waste; W ater/Wastewater; Tynes Bay Waste- to-Energy Facility;
and the Quarry Facility —all of them are critical to the
effective operation and maintenance of the Gover nment’s infrastructure.
It is within this framewor k that I present the
Department of Works and Engineering’s Budget Brief
for Fiscal Year 2016/17.
The mission of the Department of Works and
Engineering is: To ensure the effective and prudent
management of all operations and engineering services relating t o the construction, erection, improv ement, maintenance, and repairs of Government infr astructure.
The services provided by the Department of
Works and Engineering include:


Bermuda House of Assembly 1. Structural, electrical, and mechanical professional services;
2. Highways development and maintenance;
3. Water production and distribution, and se wage disposal;
4. Solid waste education, recycling, garbage collection and disposal, and composting;
5. Vehicle and equipment repair services; as
well as
6. Transport and equipment support services.

Programm es

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Madam Chairman, the d epartment has seven programme areas, each with a
number of sub- programmes or cost centres, as shown
on pages B -215, B -216 and B -217 of the Approved
Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure, namely:
• Programme 8200— Administration;
• Programme 8201— Engineering;
• Programme 8202—Highways;
• Programme 8203— Waste Management;
• Programme 8204—Quarry Transport;
• Programme 8205—Quarry Products;
• Programme 8206— Water and Sewage.

2016/17 Operational Budget

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Madam Chairman, the
recommended budget for the Department of Works
and Engineering for the coming fiscal year is
$31,426,000, which represents an increase of
$1,261,000, or 4 per cent, from the 2015/16 budget
level. This increase represents a commitment b y
Government to ensure the critical services provided
by the Department of Works and Engineering are adequately resourced and delivered to the public.

Programme 8200— Administration

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Programme 8200, on page
B-125, Administration pr ovides for the senior management team of the department. In the past this i ncluded the chief engineer, assistant chief engineer,
and an administrative assistant. The mandate of the
senior management team is the efficient management
of the seven sections of the Ministry, including:
• Highways;
• Structures;
• Electrical/Mechanical;
• Solid Waste, Water and Sewage;
• Tynes Bay Waste- to-Energy Facility; and
• Quarry Operations.

Madam Chairman, a $161,000 budget has
been allocated for Fiscal Year 2016/17, as seen on page B-215. This represents a decrease of $1,000 as
compared to the 2015/16 budget. This is due to the reduction in budget allocated for training and leaves
sufficient budget for the chief engineer position with
some administrative supplies only.
Referring to t he performance measure under
business unit 92000, Administration (page B -218) for
Fiscal Year 2015/16, the total number of lost time personal injury accidents that have taken place in the
department currently is 24. This means the OSHA
accident frequency r ate for the department is currently
6.15. This is greater than the desired outcome of less than five and can be contributed mostly to the solid waste collections section where repetitive motion inj uries frequently occur. For Fiscal Year 2016/17, greater
education and training will be utilised to help reduce
these occurrences. The average number of training
days per managerial staff member is forecast to r emain as five in the new fiscal year to reflect the need
of staff to take the mandatory courses.
Madam C hairman, the full -time equivalents for
the cost centre 92000, on page B -217, Administration
is one. This is the same as Fiscal Year 2015/16. I must note the important and critical nature of this role,
as it provides oversight for all of Bermuda’s key publi c
infrastructure and infrastructure development.

Programme 8201— Engineering

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Madam Chairman, the
mandate of the Engineering Services Programme is to
provide quality electrical, mechanical, and structural
engineering services. A $2 ,274,000 budget has been
allocated for this programme; this represents an i ncrease of $210,000, or 10 per cent, as compared to
the 2015/16 budget. This programme includes cost
centres 92001, Electrical and Mechanical Manag ement; cost centre 92002, Electric al Support; and cost
centre 92003, Structures.
The Electrical/Mechanical Management and
Electrical Support (92001 and 92002) manage the
provision of planning, design, construction, install ation, and maintenance services for electrical and m echanical system s associated with the Government’s
facilities. This includes areas such as electrical power distribution, lighting, fire protection, security, telecommunications, heating, ventilation and air conditioning,
as well as energy conservation, and acting as Gov-ernment’s functional authority in these matters.
Cost centre 92001, Electrical and Mechanical
Management, is estimated at $461,000 an increase of $17,000 from Fiscal Year 2015/16. This section pr ovides support on electrical and mechanical issues to other sections and departments throughout Gover nment. Although the team is small in size, the projects
carried out are nevertheless very important and have
far reaching impact. An example of which is the recent LED street lighting initiative, which is being carrie d out
in conjunction with BELCO.
Madam Chairman, you will recall that the init iative will replace the current high pressure sodium
1344 9 March 2016 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly lights with more efficient LED lights on all major public
roads across the Island. The LED lights, which will
use roughly hal f the energy of the present lighting, will
realise a savings of millions of dollars going into in the future.
Madam Chairman, referring to the performance measure (page B -218) for cost centre 92001,
Electrical and Mechanical, the percentage of hours billed to projects for other Government departments is
forecast to be 30 per cent for Fiscal Year 2016/17.
This demonstrates the importance of the section in providing a service to others in the form of capital d evelopment.
Madam Chairman, the full -time equivalents for
the cost centre 92001, Electrical and Mechanical, found on page B -217, is six. This is one less than the
estimate for the Fiscal Year 2015/16 due to the reduc-tion of one electrical engineering post.
Cost centre 92002, Electrical Support, is
mainly used to provide the budget for street lights.
Cost centre 92002, Electrical Support, has been r educed by $6,000 to $1,216,000. As previously mentioned, it is the aim of the department to utilise energy
saving LED street lights to further reduce this budget
in the long term.
Referring to the performance measures on
page B -218 for cost centre 92002, Electrical Support,
the number of new street lights to be installed in Fiscal
Year 2016/17 is forecast to be 30. There are a signif icant number of lights being installed, for instance, on
Spring Benny Road, Southampton and Hamilton Parish which we hope will help the community in this area.
Madam Chairman, the full -time equivalents for
the cost centre 92002, Electrical Support, found on
page B -217, is zero. All pers onnel in the electrical
section are now coded under cost centre 92001.
The Structural Engineering Services, cost
centre 92003, manage the provision of structural i nspection, design, construction, maintenance, and pr oject and contract management services, as well as
acting as the Government’s functional authority on
structural and related civil engineering matters.
Madam Chairman, the budget for cost centre
92003, Structures, is $597,000 which represents an increase of $199,000. This increase is a consequenc e
of the backlog of routine maintenance works caused
by budget constraints. The Structures team has continued to operate throughout Fiscal Year 2015/16 with
a lack of resources. There are currently only two pr ofessional engineers in the section. In the pas t, there
have been up to seven professional engineers. The Ministry continues to attempt to recruit both local and
overseas engineers but has been unsuccessful in the
past five years, primarily due to better benefits being
available elsewhere in competing jurisdictions. The
Structures team, nevertheless, continues to carry out
important Capital Works. I wish to acknowledge the
Principal Structural Engineer and his small team, at that, for the dedication and commitment they have
shown despite the challenges that they have been
faced with.
Madam Chairman, the work that the structures team carried out following the hurricanes is r eflected in the performance measure of 92003 (page B -
218) in that four inspections have already been carried out on bridges and 10 on docks during the year to
date.
The full -time equivalents for the cost centre
92003, Structures, on page B -217, are seven. This is
the same as the estimate in Fiscal Year 2015/16.

Programme 8202—Highways

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Madam Chairman, the
mandate of the Highways Programme is to develop
and maintain the public road infrastructure to ensure
the safe passage of motorists and pedestrians. This
entails all work associated with the planning, design,
and construction of road schemes and includes activ ities such as resurfacing, drainage, signage, road
markings, retaining walls, and bus shelters.
They are also mandated:
• To provide technical advice to other Gover nment ministries and agencies on highway -
related matters;
• To manage the improvement of public r oads;
• To assist citizens with their private road i mprovement needs under the Private Road I mprovement Act; and
• To act as the Government functional authority
on highways engineering- related matters.

Madam Chairman, a $3,985,000 budget has
been allocated to this programme. This programme
has increased by $280,000 as compared to the 2015/16 budget. This increase is due primarily to add itional funding for Highways crews to increase service
levels across the Island.

92004—Management

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Cost centre 92004, Management, has a budget of $537,000, which represents
a reduction of $49,000 compared to 2015/16.
Madam Chairman, the performance measure
for cost centre 92004, Highways Management, found on page B -218, indicates that the amount of comm unications received by the team from members of the
public during Fiscal Year 2015/16 was 1,500, and the
forecast for 2016/17 is also 1,500. This clearly reflects
on the significant scope of the work, and number of
issues that this section deals with continuously.
Madam Chairman, the full -time equivalents for
the cost centre 92004, Highways Management, as
you see on page B -217, is nine.
The post of assistant civil engineer is currently
vacant following the resignation of the post holder. A


Bermuda House of Assembly trainee civil engi neer is currently gaining experience
with other sections within the department through to
September 2017 to broaden her structural and water
engineering expertise and experience.

92005—Road Asphalt and Signs

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Cost centre 92005, Road
Asphalt and Signs, budget is $830,000 which repr esents a reduction of $66,000. This reflects a greater proportion of the work that is carried out under Capital
Schemes with a consequential reduction in maint enance materials charged to the operational bu dget.
Madam Chairman, the performance measure
for Business Unit 92005, Asphalt and Signs, on page B-218, shows that the amount of road centre line
marked out during Fiscal Year 2015/16 is likely to
reach 27 kilometres, which is on par with expect ations.
The forecast for the road resurfacing is
7 kilometres versus the projected 10. The shortfall
against target is due to the downtime on the asphalt plant because of unplanned replacement of parts. R efurbishment work that was commenced on the Mini stry’s asphalt plant in Fiscal Year 2014/15 has conti nued during 2015/16. It is anticipated that the refurbishment of the asphalt plant this year will make this
piece of equipment more reliable in the fiscal year ahead.
The full -time equivalents for the cost centre
9200 5, Asphalt and Signs, on page B -217, is 17, the
same as in Fiscal Year 2015/16.

92006— Public Roads Maintenance

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: The budget for cost centre
92006, Public Roads Maintenance, is $821,000 which represents an increase of $352,000 when compared
to the 2015/16 budget. In anticipation of the America’s Cup, this increase allows for filling of vacant posts necessary for delivery of essential maintenance to
retaining walls and sidewalks and other masonry and
drainage works as the number of people increases
due to the America’s Cup.
Madam Chairman, the performance measures
for cost centre 92006, Public Roads Maintenance, (page B -218) shows two new bus shelters erected
during Fiscal Year 2015/16, one less than planned. However, 1,290 feet of new sidewalks are expected to
have been completed in Fiscal Year 2015/16, well above the estimated 500 feet. This additional amount
was mainly in association with the Black Watch Pass
Roundabout project, sidewalks at Middle Road, Warwick (at White’s supermark et) and Middle Road,
Southampton (at Industrial Park Road).
Madam Chairman, the full -time equivalents for
the cost centre, 92006, Road Maintenance, on page
B-217, is 25. This is the same as the estimate for Fi scal Year 2015/16.
92007— Public Road Cleaning

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: The budget for cost centre
92007, Public Road Cleaning, is $1,797,000. This has
been increased by $43,000 mainly as a result of an
increase operating costs of mechanical vegetation
cutting equipment where practicable. It is antici pated
that this will help improved the overall productivity of
the unit and increase the service level overall.
Madam Chairman, the performance measure
for Business Unit 92007, Public Road Cleaning, on page B -218, indicates that in Fiscal Year 2014/15
some 14,000 kilometres of public road were cleaned
by mechanical means. Reliability issues with the m echanical road sweepers have impacted on this aspect
of service delivery in 2015/16 with approximately 6,150 kilometres of mechanical sweeping expected to
be completed versus the projected 15,000.
Madam Chairman, you should know that
these support service personnel also get called out
regularly to deal with emergency issues, such as wall
collapses, fallen trees, fuel spillages, and rock falls.
There were 35 emer gency call -outs for Fiscal Year
2015/16, up from our anticipated 20.
Madam Chairman, if I may, I would like to take
a moment to recognise these crews for the work that they have performed in these emergency situations
many times at late hours or extremely early hours. It is
a never -ending task, that most times goes unnoticed,
but through their efforts, our roads and highways r emain safe.
Madam Chairman, the full -time equivalents for
the cost centre 92007, Public Road Cleaning, on page B-217, is 25. This is the same as Fiscal Year 2015/16.

92008— Private Roads

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: The budget for cost centre
92008, Private Roads, remains unfunded due to budget constraints. The Ministry was therefore, unfortunately, unable to progress any works under this initiate for Fiscal Year 2015/16.
The performance measure for cost centre
92008, Private Roads, indicated that the number of
private roads on the waiting list for improvement under the Private Roads (Improvement) Act 1969 is 37,
same as the previous year.

8203 —Waste Management

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: The mandate of the Waste
Management Programme is to arrange for the collec-tion and safe disposal of Bermuda’s solid waste. The
aim of the Waste Management Section is to serve the people of Bermuda by providi ng a comprehensive
waste management programme, utilising the best technologies for disposal, recovery of materials and
1346 9 March 2016 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly energy resources, protecting public health, and saf eguarding the environment.
This includes:
• Education regarding waste reduction, reuse
and Recycling;
• Waste recycling;
• Waste collection;
• Composting;
• Land creation;
• High temperature mass burn incineration with
energy recovery (waste to energy);
• Special and hazardous waste disposal;
• The management and maintenance of the
Tynes Bay Waste- to-Energ y Facility in a reliable, safe, and cost -effective manner; and
• To act as the Government functional authority
on all matters relating to solid waste, env ironmental engineering, waste to energy and
process engineering.

Madam Chairman, a budget of $17,781,000
has been allocated to this programme for Fiscal Year
[2016/17]. This represents an increase of $1,874,000
as compared to the 2015/16 budget. This is account-ed for by [last year's] 50 per cent cut in the overtime
budgets and the removal of the recycling programme, which have both now been restored to normal budget
levels in order to provide acceptable service levels in
these critical areas.

92009—Managment, Education and Enforcement

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Madam Chairman, the
budget for cost centre 92009, Management, Educ ation and Enforcement, is $373,000 which represents
an increase of $18,000. The increase is for various
repairs for bus stop bins, public docks, and also to
assist on KBB clean- ups and clean- up of illegal dump
sites. This is needed because the bulky waste truck
service was decreased to save the Government over
$100,000, and is no longer available.
The performance measure for 92009, Solid
Waste Management, on page B -218, is forecast in
Fiscal Year 2015/16 to have carried out some 55 educational lectures during the year. These include both
schools and corporate entities and target such aspects as waste reduction at source. This helps to keep
Bermuda in line with global trends. The Solid Waste
Section is also forecast to place 1,496 advertisements for 2015/16. All promotional activities such as radio
advertisements, interviews, and print advertisements
are targeted specifically for waste- related events.
The full -time equivalents for the cost centre
92009, Solid Waste Management, on page B -217, is
three and remains the same as the previous fiscal period.

92011—Recycling
Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: The budget for cost centre
92011, Recycling, is $839,000 which is an increase of $671,000 when compared to Fiscal Year 2015/16.
This increase is becaus e no funds were allocated for
the recycling budget last year and the shortfall had to
be garnered from other sections within the Works and
Engineering Department, as well as an application for
budget supplemental. I am pleased to be able to say
that the recycling operations will continue.
The performance measure for 92011, Rec ycling, indicates that the amount of recycling materials picked up in a month for Fiscal Year 2015/16 is still
projected to be 100 tons, and the amount of e- waste
picked up in the year will be around 50 tons, in line
with estimates.
The full -time equivalents for the cost centre
92011, Recycling, on page B -217, is five, the same as
Fiscal Year 2015/16.

92012— Airport Disposal Facility

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: The budget for cost centre
92012, Airport Disposal Facility, is $1,304,000 which
is an increase of $231,000. This increase provides for
additional equipment hire to create a new disposal cell
at the airport site, and in addition for electricity char ges for the weigh bridge which were previously paid for by the Department of Airport Operations.
The performance measure for 92012, Airport
Disposal Facility, on page B -219, shows that it is for ecasted that 20,000 loads of materials will be delivered to the Airport Disposal facility and t he number of cars
scrapped will be around 800 during Fiscal Year
2015/16, on par with estimates.
The full -time equivalents for the cost centre
92012, Airport Disposal Facility, are six. The estimate
for 2015/16 was five.

92013—Composting Operations

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: The budget for cost centre
92013, Composting Operations, is $1,745,000 which
represents an increase of $188,000 when compared
to Fiscal Year 2015/16. This addition will be used to
truck excess wood waste to the Tynes Bay facility for additional energy recovery, maximising the potential
of the new turbine. Additionally, the increase will be
used for security service charges, cleaning services,
and roof maintenance.
During Fiscal Year 2015/16, only two hot
spots have been detected to date.
Madam Chairman, the full -time equivalents for
92013, Compositing Operations, is nine. This is the
same as the previous fiscal year.

92014 Special and Hazardous Waste

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Cost centre 92014, Special
and Hazardous Waste, has been budgeted


Bermuda House of Assembly $1,314,000 which represents an increase of
$231,000. The increase is for the packing, shipping
and disposing of a backlog of certain hazardous waste
materials that must be shipped off -Island by a certain
date this year.
The performance measure for cost centre
92014, Hazardous Waste, on page B -219, forecasts
that for Fiscal Year 2015/16, 50 20- foot containers will
be exported overseas; to date 30 have been exported.
Madam Chairman, the full -time equivalents for
the cost centre 92014, Hazardous Waste, is six. This
is the same as the estimate for the previous fiscal year.

92029—Collections

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: The budget for cost centre
92029, Collections, is $4,895,000 which has i ncreased by $563,000 when compared to Fiscal Year
2015/16. This is an essential service to ensure the
garbage is collected in a timely manner to protect the
health and safety of Bermuda residents. The increase is due to the required overtime spend, which was r educed by half last year, necessary to complete garbage collection when trucks are unavailable due to
repairs. This increase will help to ensure that the twoday-a-week collection becomes more reliable.
The performance measure for cost centre
92029, Collections, on page B -220, indicates that on
average 400 tons of domesti c waste continues to be
collected during the week. The section also has had
its challenges during Fiscal Year 2015/16. Some of
the positive changes, however, have been the add ition of GPS to the refuse vehicle fleet. This enhanc ement will allow for increas ed efficiency through the
optimisation of route and trip times, courtesy of the
data provided via the GPS.
The full -time equivalents for the cost centre
92029, Collections, on page B -217, are 58. This is the
same as the estimate for Fiscal Year 2015/16 and
represents a commitment to fill vacant posts from the present 50 staff to full complement in order to meet
the service objectives.

92016—Tynes Bay Administration

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: The Tynes Bay Waste- toEnergy Facility, now 20 years in service, Madam
Chairman, continues to be a well -run and an efficient
facility. It is anticipated during Fiscal Year 2015/16 that there will be 30 tours of the facility as indicated in
the performance measure for 92016, Tynes Bay A dministration, on page B -219. These tours are typically
taken up by schools, both local and overseas univers ities. The facility is also forecasting that there will be no complaints from the members of the public from
the public drop- off facility, and the number of e mployed power engineers wi ll remain at 19. The budget for cost centre 92016, Tynes Bay
Administration, is $529,000 and represents a de-crease of $12,000 from the 2015/16 budget. This is
attributed to reductions in funding for training and office supplies.
Madam Chairman, the full -time equivalents for
the cost centre 92016, Tynes Bay Administration, is
five. This is the same as the previous fiscal year.

92017—Tynes Bay Operations

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: The budget for cost centre
92017, Tynes Bay Operations, is $4,491,000 repr esenting a decrease of $37,000 from Fiscal Year
2015/16. This savings was achieved through a reduction in training budgets for this cost centre.
The performance measures for 92017, Tynes
Bay Operations, on page B -219, anticipates that
54,000 tons worth of solid waste will be treated at the
Tynes Bay Waste- to-Energy Facility during Fiscal
Year 2015/16. This figure represents an anticipated
minimal change compared to the actual figures r eported for Fiscal Year 2014/15 and is reflective of the slowly improving economy with no further downward
trend.
It is anticipated for this figure to grow next fi scal year with the increase of on- Island population in
preparation for the America’s Cup.
The amount of electricity generated and sold
to BELCO was forecast to be slight ly more in 2015/16
as compared to the previous year. However, the r evised outcome is projected to be less than the original
forecast due to turbine downtimes associated with planned outages. These outages were necessary to
tie the new Turbine Generation set into existing infr astructure, which has proven somewhat challenging
due to the mixing of old and new technologies. Est imates for Fiscal Year 2016/17 include a greatly i ncreased export of electricity to BELCO of 42,000 kil owatt hours per year versus the previous 25,000 due to
the new turbine.
The revenue generated at the Tynes Bay
Waste -to-Energy Facility as given on page B -217 also
reflects the increase in electricity sales in
Fiscal Year 2016/17, representing approximately
$7,500,000 of income due to th e installation of the
new turbine.
The revised forecast for the amount of ash
concrete the facility produces is 5,000 cubic yards. This is on par with the original forecast for Fiscal Year
2015/16. Target outcomes for 2016/17 have been set
to 5,500 cubic y ards to match the anticipated refuse
increase.
The full -time equivalents for the cost centre
92017, Tynes Bay Operations, is 31. This is the same as for the previous fiscal year.

92018—Tynes Bay Maintenance

1348 9 March 2016 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: The budget for cost centre
92018, Tynes Bay Maintenance, is $2,291,000. That
is an increase of $21,000 from Fiscal Year 2015/16.
The performance measure for cost centre
92018, Tynes Bay Maintenance, indicates that the availability of stream one, stream two, and the turbine
is forecast to be slightly less than predicted at 70 per
cent, 80 per cent, and 75 per cent, respectively, for
Fiscal Year 2015/16. These outcomes are due to planned replacement of boiler components for units
one and two, and the installation of the new turbine. For Fiscal Year 2016/17, it is anticipated the availabi lity of unit one to be greatly increased following its
maintenance taking place this fiscal year, with unit two
slightly down due to its maintenance taking place in Fiscal Year 2016/17 and the new t urbine to be at
normal availability following its full installation.
The full -time equivalents for the cost centre
92018, Tynes Bay Maintenance, are 16. This is one
more than the estimate for Fiscal Year 2015/16. This
represents funding for addition maintenance perso nnel.

8204 —Quarry Transport
8205 —Quarry Products

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: The mandate of the two
Quarry Programmes is, collectively:
• to manage the fleet and equipment leasing, mechanical maintenance, quarry operations;
and
• to act as the Government functional authority
on all matters related to fleet management
and vehicle and other mechanical engineering
and maintenance activities.

Programme 8204—Quarry Transport

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Madam Chairman, a
$7,924,000 budget and a $5,200,000 internal hire budget for vehicle rentals and maintenance has been
allocated to this programme for 2016/17. This budget
has been increased by $159,000 as compared to the
2015/16 Budget.

92019—Quarry Administration
Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: The budget for cos t centre
92019, Quarry Administration, is $591,000 and has
increased by $69,000 as a result of the increase in electricity charges.
There have been to date, 13 personal injury
accidents in Fiscal Year 2015/16 for the quarry wor kforce. This figure relates t o reported lost time incidents
which includes medical attention for ongoing condi-tions and is above the target given on the perfor-mance measure for cost centre 92019, Quarry Admi nistration. Madam Chairman, the full -time equivalents for
the cost centre 9201 9, Quarry Administration, is two.
This is the same as the previous fiscal year.

92020—Quarry Vehicles and Equipment Operation

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: The budget for cost centre
92020, Quarry Vehicles and Equipment Operation, is
$2,644,000, which has dec reased by $267,000. This
decrease is due to a decrease in staffing costs.
The performance measure for cost centre
92020, Quarry Vehicle and Equipment Operation,
forecasts on page B -219 that in Fiscal Year 2015/16,
88 per cent of the Government fleet remains in oper ation.
Madam Chairman, the full -time equivalents for
the cost centre 92020, Quarry Vehicle Equipment O peration, is 32. This is five less than the estimate for Fiscal Year 2015/16, and is due staff taking the early
retirement package.

92021—Quarry Vehicles and Equipment Maintenance

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: The budget for cost centre
92021, Quarry Vehicles and Equipment Maintenance,
is $4,689,000, which is an increase of $357,000. This
increase in maintenance costs reflects the increased burden of an ageing fleet, increase in fleet numbers,
and increase in cost of materials.
The Operation and Maintenance of the Government vehicle and equipment fleet continues to be
hampered by outdated facilities and issues with securing parts in a timely fashion. T he section workshops
are currently undergoing extensive work to replace the asbestos roofs of the facility that were damaged during the hurricanes and which were leaking.
The performance measure for cost centre
92021, Quarry Vehicle and Equipment Maintenance,
indicates that it currently takes on average seven
hours to carry out a full service on a Government v ehicle. This includes all types of vehicles and construction equipment. It is expected that this will be mai ntained at an average of eight hours for t he Fiscal Year
2016/17.
The full -time equivalents for the cost centre
92021, Quarry Vehicle Equipment Maintenance, are
49. This is one more than the estimate for Fiscal Year
2015/16. The section has arranged factory training of
three Quarry Depot mechanics at Isuzu in Japan. This
demonstrates the Ministry's commitment to training. It
is also important that the Ministry continues on such
initiatives as part of succession planning.

Programme 8205—Quarry Products

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: A $2,140,000 budget and
a $2,640,000 rechargeable budget for quarry products
have been allocated to this programme. This repr eBermuda House of Assembly sents a decrease of $546,000 when compared to the
previous fiscal year, primarily due to an increase in
asphalting works.
Refurbishment work that was commenced on
the Ministry’s asphalt plant in Fiscal Year 2014/15, has continued during 2015/16 which it is hoped will make this piece of equipment more reliable in the f uture.
The performance measure for cost centre
92023, Asphalt Plant, shows that unplanned downtime on the plant will result in only 9,000 tons out of a pr ojected 11,000 tons of asphalt is anticipated for Fiscal Year 2015/16. With the additional maintenance performed to the plant during this fiscal year, the forecast
for Fiscal Year 2016/17 i s back to 11,000 tons of asphalt. This is sufficient to carry out 10 kilometres of resurfacing, as well as producing material for filling potholes throughout the year.
The full -time equivalents for the cost centre
92023, Asphalt Plant, are seven and this is the same as the previous estimate.
Programme 8206—Water and Sewage
Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: The mandate of the Water
and Sewage Programme is:
•to provide planning, design, construction, o peration, and maintenance of the Government
water extraction;
•to produce potable water on a cost -recovery
basis to meet demand;
•to provide septage receiving facilities for pr ivate sanitation truckers and for limited public
facilities; and
•to act as the Government functional authority
on all matters related to water and waste w ater engineering.
Madam
Chairman, a $5,001,000 budget has
been allocated to this programme. This represents a
decrease of $715,000 as compared to the 2015/16 Budget.
92025—Water and Sewage Administration
Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: The budget for cost centre
92025, Water and Sewage Administration, is $968,000 which represents a decrease of $195,000 as compared to the 2015/16 Budget. This represents a reduced purchase of bulk water from WEDCO and Bermuda Water works as a result of improvements to
the di stribution network.
The performance measure for cost centre
92025, Water Section Administration, indicates that
there are forecast to be 960 metered customers for Fiscal Year 2015/16. The intentions for Fiscal Year
2016/17 are to increase the number of metered customers to 980.
The administration area within the section has
so far achieved 85 per cent response within 24 hours to enquiries by customers during Fiscal Year 2015/16,
which is a very creditable statistic.
The full -time equivalents for the cost centre
92025, Water Section Administration, are five.
9202
6—Water Supply and Treatment
Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: The budget for cost centre
92026, Water Supply and Treatment, is $2,877,000
which is a decrease of $462,000. This will ensure that there is sufficient allocation to pay for contractors who supply supplementary bulk water, remote monitoring and control systems support, and to pay for the electricity charges associated with water treatments plants
within the infrastructure.
The performance measures for cost centre
92026— Water Supply and Treatment, on page B -220,
forecasts that 210 million gallons of potable water will be produced during Fiscal Year 2015/16. This repr esents a reduction in the quantity produced in Fiscal Year 2014/15 which had suffered from a longer per iods without rain fall. A large percentage of water is rejected during the reverse osmosis process to turn source water into potable water. This explains why the
total amount of water extracted is approximately do uble than that produced.
The volume of water extracted from the water
lenses are monitored by the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to ensure that abstraction limits are not exceeded. A report is submitted to DEP
on the abstraction rates on a quarterly basis.
The full -time equivalents for the cost centre
92026, Water Supply and Treatment, is eight, which is
the same as the previous fiscal year.
9202
7—Water Storage and Distribution
Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: The budget for cost centre
92027, Water Storage and Distribution, is $830,000 which represents a decrease of $105,000 as a result of a reduction in overtime and other ancillary costs.
The performance measure for cost centre
92027, Water Storage and Distribution, is forecasting for 2015/16, 32 per cent for non- revenue w ater. Nonrevenue water is an indicator as used by the American Water Works Association for total system loses that are not recovered through billing. This figure has
largely arisen due to inaccurate meter readings. Nonrevenue water is an indicator as used by the American Water Works Association. According to the American Water Works Association, small systems, such as the one operated by the Water Section, can have non -
revenue water figures ranging between 12.2 per cent
and 45.5 per cent with the average being 24.1 per
cent. Therefore, Bermuda is marginally above aver-age.
Due to the limited resources within the Water
and Sewage Section it has not been possible to ex-tend the distribution network in Fiscal Year 2015/16 to
1350 9 March 2016 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly date. Funds have been used to repair some of the
failing existing infrastructure instead of providing a
better service to existing customers.
The full -time equivalents for the cost centre
92027— Water Storage and Distribution are 8 and this
is equal to the estimate of the previous fiscal year .

92028— Sewage Collection

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Has a budget $326,000
and has been increased by $47,000 to ensure that there is sufficient budget allowance to pay fees to the
Corporation of Hamilton for conveyance of sewage,
maintenance and effluent analysis of the Tynes Bay
Septage facility required by licence.
The performance measure for cost centre
92028 gives the total amount of septage waste r eceived at the Tynes Bay receiving facility. The performance measure also gives the amount of time as a
percentage that the Tynes Bay receiving facility is o perational. The commitment to weekly maintenance
has proven to be very successful in having the septage facility operational for a high percentage in Fiscal
Year 2015/16. Increased monitoring and increased
maintenance have allowed the facility to continue to
operate efficiently.
The full -time equivalents of the cost centre
92028, Water Sewage and Distribution, is one. This is the same as the previous fiscal year.
Madam Chairman, the water revenues which
include both domestic and commercial for 2016/17
depicts a reduction of $645,000 from Fiscal Year
2015/16. This was due to a change in rainfall patterns from previous years, which led to less demand and
less water sales.

Staff

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Madam Chairman, staffing
levels within the Department of Works and Engineer-ing are shown on page B -217. Employee numbers
estimates for the 2016/17 budget are 341, which is an
increase of two when compared to those in Fiscal Year 2015/16.
This increase is to acc ommodate posts at the
Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) for the Island’s r ecycling programme.

Review of Major Capital Projects

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: I now wish to provide
Members of this Honourable House with a summary of the status of the major capit al projects being managed by the Department of Works and Engineering.
The overall 2016/17 Capital Expenditure Plan for the
Department of Works and Engineering is $27,867,000. Details are found on page C -7 of the
Approved Estimates of Revenue and Expenditur e
2016/17.
75096— Swing Bridge Refurbishment

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: The 2016/17 estimate for
this cost centre is $8,290,000. This budget will be used to continue the works currently in progress for
the repair and replacement of structural elements of
the Swing Bridge in St. George’s.
You will be aware that we have already commenced on the essential maintenance works to Swing
Bridge. This bridge was rehabilitated in 2002 with a projected life of the works of 10 years. This year we
have initiated vital works to refurbish this bridge and
return it to full working order.
The intent behind these works is to provide a
fully operating bridge with a life span far beyond that
of the previous repairs. While it is too early at this stage of the project to give absolute assurances, we
are working toward a solution that will provide an
opening structure for the summer of 2017 and aiming
for a maintenance lifespan of 25 to 30 years. In the
interim we have designed measures to increase the strength of the existing bridge that we hope to install
shortly, and at the same time are developing options
to increase traffic to two lanes until the refurbishment
is complete.
This is a new budget cost centre for this coming financial year.

75042—Road Works

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier : Estimate for this cost centre is $4,450,000. This budget comprises major
maintenance work to the road network, which includes
road resurfacing, as well as road improvement
schemes such as junction improvements, road widening, and new sidewalks.
In 2015/16 significant road improvements
have been completed at the roundabout at the junction of North Shore and Black Watch Pass in Pembroke; the widening and raising of the road at Dutton
Avenue in Pembroke to make it more resilient against
the risk of flooding; extensive repair works to Perim eter Lane; and the widening of Middle Road in Warwick at the junction with Burnt House Hill.
In 2016/17, the Road Works programme will
be targeted infrastructure renewal works to improve
the overall condition of the public r oad asset, namely:
road resurfacing projected at $3,500,000, fencing r eplacement, sidewalk reconstruction, and crossing
junction improvements projected at $700,000, and drainage infrastructure projected at $200,000.

75044—Water Projects

Hon. L. Craig Can nonier: This programme is for
planned and unforeseen small to medium water and sewage projects, including a requirement in every
year to provide equipment and general facility upgradBermuda House of Assembly ing to meet ongoing treatment, environmental, and
safety -related issues. T he 2016/17 estimate for this
cost centre is $1,068,000. This budget will be used to
complete the first phase of the upgrade of the septage plant with the addition of “the beast.” This new equi pment will greatly modernise the current sewage r eceiving facili ty and remove greater amounts of contaminates from the waste stream. Funding for this
budget will also facilitate the installation of a third well
for Tynes Bay Sea Water RO plant to allow it to pr oduce one million imperial gallons per day, which will be vitally required for the anticipated spike in demand
during the upcoming America’s Cup. And finally, the
funding will be used to improve pumping systems at
Prospect Depot to meet required distribution demands, as well as carrying out other improvements to
the water and Sewage Section infrastructure.

75046—Improvements in Street Lighting

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: The estimate for this cost
centre is $403,000. This budget has been increased to cover the ongoing LED modernisation project currently being delivered by BELCO. As mentioned pr eviously, the project will see the long- term savings in
the form of energy reduction and provide better quality lighting for the major roads in Bermuda.

75048—Bus Shelters

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: The estimated budget
$50,000. This budget will be used to build at least two new traditional looking bus shelters, as well as install
a couple of Plexiglas shelters.

75051— Private Road Street Lighting

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Madam Chairman, the cost
centre is budgeted $22,000. Thi s budget will, as in
previous years, be used to provide extra lighting on private roads which can help with the safety of an area.

75061— St. George’s Sewage Plant

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: The budget for this cost
centre is $249,000. This budget will be used to pay for a study that will provide options for waste water servicing promised in the Throne Speech that is sorely
needed in the St. George’s Area.

75064— Asbestos Disposal

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Madam Chairman, the estimate for this cost centre is $1,335,000 which will be
used to continue the encasement with lightweight concrete of the containers holding asbestos, repack
containers that have deteriorated too far, and also explore options to ship adequately packed materials
to the United States for permanent disposal.

75116— Structural Refurbishment of Bridges

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: The estimated for this cost
centre is $970,000. This budget will be used to carry out repair work on Watford Bridge, Sandys.

75117—Refurbishment Ferry Docks
and Publi c Landings

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: The 2016/17 estimated
budget is $890,000 which will be used to carry out
engineering studies for the maintenance and deve lopment of Kings Wharf in Dockyard to ensure its f uture effective operation, as well as to provide maint enance works to the Fast Ferry Floating Docks. In Fi scal Year 2015/16, this budget has been used to manage the channel widening to accommodate the larger
cruise ships which was completed in November 2015.

75127—Reconstruction of Retaining Walls

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: The estimate for this
budget is $445,000 and it is used to fund the repairs to eight collapsed retaining walls, which will be used to reconstruct walls that are on the repair list but
which the department has not been able to do due t o
other priorities.

75142— Stabilise Road Side Rock Cuts (Stru ctures)

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Madam Chairman, the d epartment was unable to undertake any works to stabilise road side rock cuts in Fiscal Year 2015/16 due to
the commitment of resources to other priority projects.
So for 2016/17, the estimate for this budget is $178,000.

75144—Foreshore Protection Work

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: This cost centre is used to
carry out repairs and mitigating measures to the for eshore. The 2016/17 estimate for this budget is $1,000,000. This will be used for the design and pr ocurement of foreshore protection works at Westgate
Correctional Facility, Dockyard.

75207—Causeway Refurbishment

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: We were again fortunate
that the winds from Hurricane Joaquin did not cause significant damage to the Causeway. The Causeway itself was only closed for the duration of the storm.
However, the structure is aging and is in regular need
of maintenance and protection works to guard against severe damage from s torms. The 2016/17 estimate
1352 9 March 2016 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly for the cost centre is $356,000. This will enable the
Ministry to carry out maintenance repair works to the
walls of the Causeway that will ensure reliability and
resilience to the elements.

75210—Tynes Bay Waste Treatment Expansion

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: The capital funding for Fi scal Year 2016/17 is $1,335,000 and includes funds to complete the turbine installation works. The new 7.5
megawatt turbine is scheduled be fully operational by March 2016 and is projected to earn, as previously
mentioned, approximately $7,500,000 in revenue for
Government in the next fiscal year.

75258—Dangerous Walls and Rock Cuts (Hig hways)

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: The estimate for the
2016/17 budget is $356,000. This cost centre is used
to carr y out repairs to collapsed walls and rock cuts.
The department has spent a significant part of the fi scal year repairing walls that were damaged by storms or as a result of poor construction.

75264—Quarry Refurbishment

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Madam Chai rman, the
2016/17 estimate for this cost centre is $178,000 which will be used to carry out design work to provide
upgrades at the Quarry Depot.

75293— Pembroke Canal Upgrade

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: This programme is for the
upgrade of the Pembroke Canal . The 2016/17 est imate for this cost centre is $223,000. This will be used
for channel improvements and for design work for culvert and bridge improvements to increase the flow
along the channel.

75294—Reverse Osmosis Plants
Electrical Systems

Hon. L. Cr aig Cannonier: This programme has been
created for the upgrade of all the electrical control and remote monitoring systems in each of the water facil ities. The 2016/17 estimate for this cost centre is
$325,000.

75308—Tynes Bay Capital Maintenance

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: The 2015/16 est imated total cost of this cost centre is $2,670,000 and
will be used for carrying out essential maintenance of
the Tynes Bay Waste- to-Energy Facility. This alloc ation will facilitate the replacement of the super -heater
bund les in unit two which were last replaced in 2003
and the water -wall system in unit two which has never been replaced and has been in operation now for over
20 years. In addition, the budget will also allow for the
replacement of the baler machine, the Island’s refuse
contingency solution, with a brand new machine. This
will provide service continuity when the maintenance works take place and also provide essential service
reliability for the approaching America’s Cup where
refuse levels are anticipated to r ise sharply.

75317—Waste Water Treatment Facility
WEDCO Grant

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: This grant covers the f inancial commitment of the WEDCO Waste Water
Treatment plant, which has been amortized over a 10year period. The current commitment for fiscal year
2016/17 is $1,650,000. The total amount spent to date
is $12,204,000, out of a total authorised figured (TAF)
of $15,600,000.

75324—Morgan’s Point Works

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: The remediation of the
contaminated lands at Morgan’s Point is now complete. I would like to thank all parties involved for
bringing this most complex and challenging project to
a successful close. Begun in April of 2013, this project
was a first of its kind for Bermuda, both in terms of scale and execution, where Bermudian c ompanies
carried out the majority of the work to very high international standards. With the work now substantially
completed ahead of schedule, this brings us a monu-mental step closer to the proposed development of a
first-class tourism product that will equate to more
jobs and opportunities for Bermudians. I once again want to thank all who made this endeavour a success,
especially our internal Government teams and local contractors who worked together diligently throughout
this process.
The major element s of work still outstanding
are all on the Government retained lands and do not
impact the proposed development. These include the
removal of oil in Bassett’s Cave, remediation of the jet
plume, capping of the landfill and shoreline stabilis ation. The 2016/17 estimate for this cost centre is
$1,335,000.

Review of Major Capital Acquisitions

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: I would now like to provide
you with a summary of the status of the major acquis itions being managed by the Department of Works and
Engineering, the details of which can be found on
page C -12.

Quarry
76495— Vehicles and Equipment



Bermuda House of Assembly Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: The vehicles and equi pment to be replaced under the 2016/17 budget are
those that have reached their economic target age
and are in poor condi tion. The vehicles to be replaced
are two 18- year-old crane trucks and two of the three
18-year-old roll -on/roll -off skip trucks which are used
for garbage collection and waste transfer duties.
Finances: The 2016/17 estimate for this annual allocation is $ 500,000.
Madam Chairman, before I close, I do want to
make special mention of two projects with which the
Department of Works and Engineering have not been
directly involved, but nonetheless have lent their tec hnical expertise in order to bring to fruition two great
initiatives for the Island. I speak of the North Channel
Widening Project and the South Basin Reclamation
project.
The dredging of the North Channel was to i mprove its alignment for the safe navigation of the Anthem of the Seas which is anticipa ted to arrive in April
2016. This is the newest class of cruise ship of the Royal Caribbean Line with a width of some 41 metres and thus ensuring its ability to safely navigate our w aters was paramount. To complete this project, well in
excess of 100,000 c ubic yards of material was
dredged from the North Channel and then re- used in
the reclamation of the South Basin in Dockyard. As
we all know, the South Basin project is essential for the success of the 2017 America’s Cup and will pr ovide over eight acres of valuable land that will become
a positive legacy for the people of Bermuda. The D epartment of Works and Engineering played a vital role
in the coordination of the two projects, ensuring both
contractors provided the best end result for the Island.
Of not e, in undertaking the dredging works,
great care was taken to safeguard the environment.
This saw the translocation of a significant numbers of
corals away from the effects of the dredging and also
the maintaining of strict turbidity controls to limit, as far
as practicable, the effects upon nearby marine ecol ogy. It is also worth noting that these controls were far
more stringent than those imposed on projects els ewhere and is evidence of the high value that we place
on the marine environment of Bermuda.
For the South Basin Project, the department
provided technical oversight in both the design and construction stages to ensure that the land [produced]
not only provides a solution that is of value to Berm uda for its role during America’s Cup, but continues to
be of value to Bermuda long after.
Madam Chairman, in closing, I have now
been with the Ministry of Public Works for just a little
over a year and I continue to find the staff and wor kforce to be an extremely dedicated and committed team. I would like t o give thanks to the Acting Chief
Engineer, Kirk Outerbridge (and the former Chief E ngineer, Mr. Peter Havlicek) and their entire team for
the tremendous efforts they have made throughout
this year. The work that they carry out is often not u n-derstood or a ppreciated. The Department of Works
and Engineering carries out such a large range of activities, some of which are most interesting, most of
which are vital to maintaining a civilised way of life.
The Department of Works and Engineering has risen up and c onquered many challenges in the past and
will continue to be faced with many challenges in the
future. However, [I] can assure the people of Berm uda, that the professionalism and dedication demonstrated by the staff and workforce of the Department
of Works and Engineering is first -rate, and Bermuda
can be secure in the knowledge that its infrastructure
is in safe hands.
Madam Chairman, with this quite comprehensive overview of the department, I move that the budget for Head 82 be approved.
Thank you, Madam Chairman.

Sorry.

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: This will not take me long,
this one. Yes, one more.

HEAD 97 —DEPART MENT OF LAND TITLE AND
REGISTRATION

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Madam Chairman, it gives
me great pleasure to present the budget for Head 97,
Department of Land Title and Registration found on
pages B -221 to B -224.
The mandate or mission is: To create and
maintain an electronic register of legal estates and
interests in land so providing legal security for owners
and third parties.

Expenditure Overview

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: The Land Title and Regi stration Department has two programmes, as seen on
page B -221:
• Administration— 9701;
• Land Title Management —9702.

The total current expenditure for the depar tment is estimated to be $1,050,000 for 2016/17 and this represents a decrease of approximately
$321,000, or 23 per cent lower than the budget for
2015/16. A large percentage of the decrease is due to
the transfer of the Land Survey Management section
to the Department of Public Lands and Buildings.
The cost centre for the Land Title Registry O ffice is, 107030, Land Title Management.
Madam Chairman, one of the biggest challenges for the proper management of land in Bermuda
1354 9 March 2016 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly is the lack of a land title registration system. The Land
Title Registry Office has developed a land title registry
system for Bermuda. It will provide a transparent, accessible, and valuable land and property information
system that will underpin an efficient land market in
Bermuda.
The introduction of Land Title Registration will
benefit the Government as follows:
• It will assist with the linkage with wider Go vernment policies, social agendas, and sustainable development;
• It will provide a definitive record of Gover nment -held land facilitating improved land
management including acquisitions and di sposals;
• The Government will be able to use statistical
data to obtain a very accurate picture of l and
ownership in Bermuda;
• The system will be able to assist the Gover nment to measure the financial soundness of
the economy. It will able to provide information which will allow the Government to
create a real estate price index, which is vital to any gov ernment, who wishes to avoid/limit
adverse impact on their economy;
• It will help to improve the decision- making in
respect of zoning, planning, development, and
the provision of public open spaces;
• It will provide the identification of underutilised
land a nd derelict properties. Land which has
been “fallow” can be brought back into use.

Land Title Registration will also benefit landowners in Bermuda in the following ways:
• Registration establishes proof of ownership of
land and produces an easy -to-read document
which reflects the contents of the paper deeds
relating to the property.
• All of the information concerning property will
be stored in one convenient place— on the
Land Title Register. The information will be
quick and easy to access online. It will inc lude
the name of the owner, whether or not the
property is subject to a mortgage, details of
any rights which benefit the property (a right
of way over the property next door), as well as
any rights which other people have over the
property (a neighbour ma y have a right to use
the owner’s dock, for example).
• Once a property has been registered there will
no longer be a need to store your deeds with
the bank or in secure storage. The deeds will be obsolete once registration has taken place.
• Registration of t itle will give owners greater
security of tenure, providing owners with bet-ter protection from claims of adverse possession (squatter’s rights). • When taking a mortgage, the owner of a
property will remain its owner. There will no
longer be any need to tran sfer the ownership
of the property to your mortgage provider for
the duration of the mortgage.
• Voluntary registration of your land will flush
out any claims that other people may think
they have over your land. If such claims are
made, then they will be as sessed by the Land
Title Registry Office and if need be, they will
be adjudicated upon by the Lands Tribunal in an attempt to bring certainty and closure to
the matter.
• Properties which do not currently have any
deeds will no longer be left in “no man’s land.”
A provisional title will be granted (provided
some satisfactory evidence of ownership is
presented) for a property which has no deeds.
This should then allow banks and private ind ividuals to lend against these types of properties.

The Land Title Regi stry Office will move to
become operational this financial year and the budget for this coming year reflects this increased activity and
demonstrates that we are delivering on our Throne
Speech initiative. The Land Title Management cost
centre 107030 has been allocated a total budget of $785,000, a decrease of $47,000. The decrease r elates to the reduction in staff.
It has one central administrative cost centre,
107000, Administration. This programmed objective is to provide administrative support, and it has been a llocated a budget of $265,000. This represents a r eduction of $9,000. A decrease of $6,000 relates to the
Ministry taking over the geographic information sy stem licence (GIS) this has allowed the Ministry to consolidate its contribution and thus allowed this depar tment to reduce its payment towards the cost of the
licence. In addition, the department has made savings
in other areas, such as overseas training and general
operating expenses. This cost centre also carries
funding for the administrativ e running costs of leasing
Milner Place.
Revenue

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: The Land Title Registry
Office projected income for the fiscal year is a mini-mum of $1,144,000. This figure has been derived by
estimating the number of substantive applications expected to be registered by the Land Title Registry O ffice, which is approximately 1,300 to 1,400 per annum. On first registration of a parcel of land, 0.1 per
cent of the open market value of the land will be
charged to register the property.
Based on the number of current sales regi stered in Government records the overall, average property prices have maintained consistency when
compared over the last two years, with the average


Bermuda House of Assembly hovering around $1,100,000. The fee has been est imated using $1 million as an a verage value of a property transferred.

Manpower

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: The department’s wor kforce has been reduced; two professional posts have
been frozen. The section has a bursary student, lsha
Douglas. She has been training in the UK to become
a lawyer. lsha will return to Bermuda in September
2016 where she will commence her training as the Trainee Land Title Legal Officer.

Output Measures
Business Unit 107030—Land Title Management

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: The Land Title Registry
Office in the past year undertook and achieved the following performance measures:
1. Within two weeks of receipt of the request,
100 per cent of all routine, new addresses
were assigned.
2. The Land Title Registry Office was not oper ational; therefore, it was unable to commence registering private land.

Major Achievements

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: The Land Title Registry
Office and its stakeholders have finally agreed to the amendments to the Act and Rules. At present, the
amendments to the Act and Rules are being finalised
by the Attorney General Chambers.

Plans for the Upcoming Year

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: The key projects for the
coming year are as follows:
• For Land Title Registry Office to become operational and commence registering private
land;
• To commence amalgamating all land information such as judgments debts relating to
property and the deed information held at the
Registry General;
• Place all land information on an electronic
register. This will create a one- shop stop for
all land information which will be open to the
public.

And so, Madam Chairman, in conclusion, it
remains for me to thank the Land Title and Registr ation Department for their hard work and continued
dedication towards this project.
And I want to thank, once again, Debbie Reid,
you know, these guys , they get into their departments
and many times you do not see them, and we do not
understand the impact that they have on the Island. And so always I am grateful when I do get to see you.
I do not always get to come over to your side of the
town, but I am extremely grateful for what you do
Debbie. Your department, as we go into this New
Year, will be vital even for revenue for this Gover nment, so I want to, again, thank you.
And so, Madam Chairman, that brings me to
the end of the seven Heads. I must say that was a bit
gruelling, but well worth it. There was a lot of good
information in there. And I do want to also say, as the
Minister, to all of our assistants; it has been an inter-esting year for us. It has been challenging. The public
has demanded more f rom us, you know, we had a
revaluation project that we had to go through; there
have been major demands on the Ministry of Public
Works. The one thing that I have seen and I have had
the opportunity [to do] is to continue to mingle with everyone. And I found that over the year we have
grown to be very close, a very close- knit group, and
the attitude that our civil servants bring to the table —I
will argue with anyone —has been nothing but phenomenal. Every time I meet up with these guys, they are just looking for an opportunity to please the public
of Bermuda.
And so , with that in mind I will take my seat.

Yes, you have 45 minutes.

Hon. Dennis P. Lister: With that said, that means
that what was prepared as a speech or presentation
will not be given today.
Madam Chairman, I am going to put aside
what I had prepared as a presentation and really go
through the notes that I was making while the Minister
was doing his presentation and avoid trying t o give a
full presentation in only 45 minutes of what was pr epared to be much longer.
One of the points that I will throw as a question to you, Honourable Minister, is that in one of your
closing remarks earlier you made reference to the fine
work that was offered as an assistance to the South
Basin Land Fill that is taking place out at Dockyard.
The conversation that circulates around that right now
continues to talk about it being done for the America’s
Cup. I think in part of your presentation you mentioned earlier that there is a committee that is looking at end
use.

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Yes.
1356 9 March 2016 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly
Hon. Dennis P. Lister: Let us turn the clock back a
bit.
I think the South Basin Land Fill came to this
House and was in conversation in this Government
long before the America’s Cup came into place. And I
continually hear it out in the public and in these circles
about what is going to be done with it afterwards, as if
it was just a fresh idea that came about with the America’s Cup. It had been in the convers ation, and I am
sure your department can confirm that. It had been in
the conversation from when we were in Government,
and it was your former Minister (the Minister who pr eceded you) who actually brought legislation to this
House for us to approve to go ahead and do the land fill, prior to America’s Cup ever being in this convers ation.
So I am really taken back by the sort of surprise now over what is going to be done with this
property after the America’s Cup. I think some clarity
would help not only us i n this Chamber, but the ge neral public, because it was not a new idea.
You made reference to the . . . and Madam
Chairman, I am going to jump all over the place rather
than just follow the presentation I would have done it
going Head by Head. But I am just going to pick pieces out of this.
Minister, when you were on your feet, you
made reference to the improvement that was going to
be achieved, or that was achieved in this past year, in
regard to the waste collection— trash collection— in
that the trucks were now equipped with GPS. You
made quite a bit of conversation around how this was
a major improvement to the whole tracking and routing and allowing it to be more efficient in the collection
of waste. My question to you is, When did the GPS
systems go into place? If memory serves me well, and
I am sure the community will follow me, last fall —just
a few months ago —the issue was quite high over the
fact that on a regular basis trash was not being co llected on a timely basis and causing major concern throughout the country on that.
No matter which end of the Island you were
living, on a regular basis, trash was not being collec ted in a timely manner. So if this GPS system was just
added, then maybe we will see an improvement. If it had been added and [was] in p lace during that time,
then some explanation needs to be given as to why
we were still experiencing those problems.
I think part of the conversation that took place
back then was that the new trucks needed to have
additional service or special servicing, and some of the technicians from the Works and Engineering were
supposed to be going off to get additional training in
the service of those new latest model trucks (I will not
necessarily call them “new,” but the latest model trucks you have). And when we l ast had this conversation on this floor the original indication that was gi ven was that the individuals were overseas and then that was clarified by yourself that they were due to
leave shortly afterwards to go overseas for their trai ning. It would be nice to know whether they have, in
fact, gone and whether the additional training that they
received has had an impact in improving the service so that we will not have any further experiences like
we had last fall with trash on a regular basis not being
able to be collected.
Likewise, Minister, the condition of our roads
is an area I would like to touch on, the asphalting. A
lot of conversation has been made in your present ation around the upgrading that was required at our
asphalt plant. I think that was evid ent in this past year.
I think one of the private companies was involved in
producing as well as laying quite a bit of the asphalt.
But if we take the conversation back to what is ahead
of us —the whole America’s Cup and all the buzz that
is supposed to be going around in making the Island
look as pristine as we can for it —I think our road surfacing is one of those areas that really needs major
attention.
I note that there are some funds in the budget,
as you discussed, that are going towards increasing the funding. But my question is: Comparing that funding to what has been done in the past few years, and
comparing it to the amount of kilometres that have
been done on an average basis, will we really see the
impact that is needed around the Island in regard to
the amount of road resurfacing and repairing that is
needed?
On a regular basis, just driving on your normal
daily drive, you can come across many areas where
the road surfacing is questionable with the number of
potholes and patches, and areas of road that have
long [outlived] their usefulness and need total resur-facing. And yes, Works and Engineering has been
around in recent weeks doing some major clean- ups
around our roads and up and down the roadsides.
Particularly you notice it coming in from the west, a lot
of cleaning and trimming back of hedges and roadsides. But it is the surface itself that still needs that
type of attention, particularly when we look at the
roads in the West End in that a lot of the activity during that time period will take place in the West End.
And there are quite a few roads in the western end of the Island that are very questionable in regard to r esurfacing needs.

Excuse me, Shadow Minister.
Would you mind just mentioning your line
items when you do menti on the different topics?
Hon. Dennis P. Lister: Sure.

ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE CHAIRMAN

HOUSE VISITOR



Bermuda House of Assembly The Chairman: And I would also like to take this m oment to recognise Senator Renee Ming, who is in the
Gallery.

[Committee of Supply, Ministry of Public W orks, co ntinuing]

Hon. Dennis P. Lister: Sure.
I was speaking on the road surfacing, that
would come under the Head 82 and we look at the
Highways, which would be cost centre 8202, Resurfacing and Road Maintenance. All of that comes under
that, Madam Chairman. If you want to look it is on
page B -215, if you are following in your Budget Book,
Madam Chairman.
Madam Chairman, another one of the items
that I am going to skip through (as I am thumbing
through) . . . and I will just pause a minute to find the
right cost centre for you. It would be under the Sale of
Government Properties. The Minister mentioned that
the list has finally being worked on. I think last year he
indicated that a lot of work was being done, a list was being compiled and the information will be brought to
this House sometime in the near future. My question
is, Minister, being that the list has already been compiled, how many properties have you identified that
will be on that list for sale? And have any of those
properties, in fact, alr eady been sold that are on the
list? Because we have seen a number of the buildings
Island- wide that we know are in major disrepair. And I
am going to one specific, Madam Chairman.
Minister, when you were on your feet under
Capital Development you were m aking reference to
some of those derelict buildings. You later indicated that one of the buildings in particular was Teucer
House. I think you said Teucer House was going to be
brought back into use to house . . . I think you named
one of the departments of the House here. I cannot
remember which department, but you did make a reference to it, and you indicated that it would be one of those properties that would look to have work started
in this current year. However, when you turn to page
C-6, under Capital Development, there is no funding
in the Book for Teucer House. It has got a zero all the
way across. And when you look under Public Lands
and Development Buildings, I think it is cost centre
75173, there is no funding there at all for that partic ular pro perty.
Minister, also, whilst I am on that page, I
might as well ask a couple more questions from page C-6. Page C -6, Capital Development, under the Mini stry there is also a million dollars for Sandys 360. You indicated that that would be part of the arrangement
with the bank to offset some of the debt with the bank,
I believe, and the Government will actually be buying
the property. Will that reassure that the future use will
be back as it was before, open to the community, and
some of the similar program mes or additional pr ogrammes being able to run and operated out at 360? And how soon could the target of opening 360 be
considered?
Also, Minister, you made reference, again on
page C -6 under Capital Development, cost centre
75332, under Housing Corporati on, the grant there.
Not the operating grant, but the additional grant that is
given for the Grand Atlantic site. The last couple of
years the grant was roughly $2 million to offset the
commitment to the bank. This year it has gone from
$2 million up to $4.8 million. And you indicated that
that was in reference to an increase in the interest rates, et cetera. I am wondering if there was anything
else in that. Maybe I missed the other pieces, but I did
hear you make reference to the interest rates. I think
the increase in interest rate is more than double what
has been paid in the last two years. Surely it has got to be more than just interest rates that have taken that from $2 million to $4.8 million. So, can some clarity be
given to that?
Whilst on the topic of the Grand Atlantic, Mi nister, I know there was a lot of fanfare given by yourself and your predecessor in regard to the concept of
turning the site into a tourism accommodation. I think
the first condo tourist -type facility was part of the di scussion when it was being put out when it was first
announced that the Bermuda Beach Resort would be taking over the property. You indicated that there was a shortage, or they were not able to secure the funding (my words) to make it happen. And part of what
has been stated publicly is that there have been many
inquiries made since then or even during the time that
you were in discussion with the MOU with the Berm uda Beach Resort Group.
Can you confirm whether or not any of those
other interests are still on the table? And can we expect to see some future development from some other
developer taking place? Because there was a lot of
excitement from yourself —particularly from your former Minister —in that the indication was that that site
had a real . . . or those developers were making a
genuine commitment and that we had all expectation
to see it up and running in a short order. That has not
taken place. But your comments since then have been that there have been quite a few further inquiries. Can
we get some type of update in the near future as to
how they are progressing? And is there any lesson
that has been learned from this exercise, meaning,
they did not get the funding, were there any concerns —

[Inaudible interjection]
Hon. Dennis P. Lister: No, it is a rea l serious question now.
In the exercise of going through that with a
potential developer, were there issues that they may
have highlighted that could be a hindrance, or was a
hindrance, or maybe [contributed to] not allowing the deal go through that could be removed for any future
1358 9 March 2016 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly conversation that may come to the table? I am looking
for a note that I made in reference to that when you
were speaking, and I just cannot put my hand on it
right now.
One of the comments that you were making
was one that I wanted to help and support and praise you on. How is that?
I am going to move on to another Head, Madam Chairman, I am actually under the Lands and Buildings, Head 81, in reference to the apprenticeship,
the bursary programme, all of the training that is bei ng
offered by the Ministry to try and get young Bermudians into that particular area, some to fill some of those
challenging roles and jobs and positions that are yet
to be filled.
I think the approach is one that needs to be
commended, but I am always . . . and the same thing
for last year when we talked about it. We sit here
again this year to hear that we still have not been able
to get any young Bermudians to sign on to that pr ogramme. That just puzzles me. And I wonder what is
the real challenge that we should be putting our heads
together on to see what we can do to get young Ber-mudians to take advantage of it. I think the package
that is being offered is an outstanding package as far
as what Government is prepared to do to assist them
in the whole bursary exercise to get trained up in the particular areas of service that are needed to complete the vacancies that are existing in those areas.

[Inaudible interjection]

Hon. Dennis P. Lister: The bursary programme that
you offer as an apprenticeship programme to assist
the . . . I think you are now talking to high school st udents in third year to try to get them to understand and
appreciate the career opportunities that exist.
The other question I would like to touch on too
as well, Madam Chairman, is under Head 82, and it
will probably be cost centre 92021, in reference to the
Government Fleet. I have a couple of simple questions. What is the overall size of the government fleet
these days as far as vehicles? You have made refer-ence to the number of vehi cles or certain vehicles that
will be replaced this year due to age, that they aged themselves out. But what is the overall total number of vehicles in the government fleet? And what does that
look like in [comparison] to December or January
2013? How does the fleet . . . has it grown or has it
decreased in the last three years?
Under the final Head you just finished, Head
97, the Land Survey Title and Registry, under Admi nistration 9701, the two last cost centres under Admi nistration, the Land Survey Mana gement which has
been transferred to Public Lands, Head 81, but there
is also Mapping. No indication was made where Map-ping was transferred to. I was just wondering, has that
been included as part of the Land Survey or has it just
been scrapped altogether? But they both were two separate cost centres when they were under the Land
Title Registry.
Now, the other piece on that too, Minister, is
that I think in the comments that were made in last
year’s debate in reference to the whole Land Title Registry the projection would be that that particular
area would be self -funded once we got the Land Title
Registry up and running, based on the fees that it
would generate. And I have a note that I found from
last year. The comment that you made was that the
potential was around $8 million in revenue that could
be made from that particular area. And as I look at the
revenues in this year’s book, we still do not have an ywhere near those types of projections. But I think last
year it was projected, and the conversation w as that
once it was up and running it had the potential of pr oducing that type of revenue.
It is still not projected yet in this year’s Budget
Book. We are still not targeting those type of numbers,
and your revenue source is still . . . I guess the system
still is not completely up and running yet. But once
they are up and running, will they still be able to pr oduce those types of projections that you indicated last
year?
Madam Chairman, back to Head 82, Works
and Engineering, under cost centre 92003, St ructures,
where we find our bridges. Minister, a conversation
has been had in reference to the Swing Bridge and the major work that is going to take place at Swing
Bridge. There is also a conversation that has been
had in reference to some more minor works that will
take place at the Watford Bridge in the West End.
My question to you, Minister, would be: The
Bailey bridge at the end of the Causeway as you enter
to the airport, what is the timeline or any projections
on permanency of that particular structure because
. . . 2007, correct? If my memory serves me right, it
was in 2007 that the Bailey bridge was put in. And the
conversation back then was that it would not be a long-term bridge. It would be a short -term bridge until
more permanency could be devel oped as to what
would replace that. I have some personal recollection of that because I was the Minister at the time, so—

[Inaudible interjection]
Hon. Dennis P. Lister: The Long Bird Bridge. That is
right, where we have got the Bailey bridge. So that was only, for those in the Ministry of your staff who
are over there chuckling . . . when that happened, we
were confronted with an immediate situation because
one lane had to be shut down overnight and it was —

[Inaudible interjection]
Hon. Dennis P. Liste r: The 24
th May weekend, if I
remember correct. It was an odd year. That meant
Cup Match was down near St. George’s (for my Senator friend sitting down there in the Gallery). But we knew that we could not have Cup Match in the East


Bermuda House of Assembly End with only one lane of traffic going in and out of St.
George’s.
St. George’s might have enjoyed that because
I think they did not do too well at that Cup Match, but
we knew we could not have one lane of traffic. So the
push was on to make sure by the time Cup Match
rolled ar ound there would be two lanes of traffic going
in. We achieved that, that was accomplished, and
then we got it up and running with a good bit of time to
spare before Cup Match was upon us. But the conversation was always that it would be a short term
[bridge]. It has now become almost a permanent
bridge, a permanent structure.
And in the conversation that has been taking
place about development, improvements, bridges, et cetera, that bridge just does not come into the conversation. And I think at some point we have to bring that
back to the fore before we wake up one morning and
that structure is no longer being able to provide the
service that it has been providing for an extended
time, which should have been just a short period of
time. So if some projecti on can be given as to when or
where, or is it even included in the conversation, as to
putting some funds into really putting a permanent
structure in place there?
Madam Chairman, the other Head that I am
going to touch on here now is actually Head 53, wh ich
is the Bermuda Housing Corporation. I spoke on it a
little just now when I made reference to the Grand
Atlantic, but I have a pet peeve on this and probably
overlooked it when I was sitting in the chair on that
side . . . No, no, it was not under me at the time. That
is right, it was under Housing.

[Laughter]

Hon. Dennis P. Lister: That is right; it was not under
me, that is why it did not come to my attention. Ah!
But I mentioned it last year and I will mention
it again this year.
Minister, when you spoke about the particular
Head you had a good- size brief on the BHC. For the
public’s edification, we had a single page. We have a
single page on that one. And I always make an issue of it. I think, somehow somewhere, I know it is sort of
a quango outside, but when the Minister can get up
and give us nice full, detailed information on the rev enues, the expenditures, all of those things, but we cannot look at it as a comparison when we do the
Budget Debate . . . we just have a single page that
says here is a grant of $6 million —end of story —that
is it. But when the Minister is on his feet, he really gives us a good bit of . . . he really informs us quite a
bit on the functions, the accomplishments and achievements, that the targets are set.
But for any oth er Head under the Ministry we
had the ability to be able to look and make those
comparisons ourselves just based on the projections
that are given to us in the regular estimate and rev e-nue structure. Unfortunately, that one does not, and
based on the level of conversation that the Minister, or
presentation, that the Minister was able to make, it
would be more interesting if we would be able to compare some of that.
Minister, one of the points that you made in
reference to that was the Harmony Club and the fact
that it is being used to house the police. To some of the other points that you made in regard to that, my
question is: What is the total annual expenditure to
operate the Harmony Club to Government, whether it is through the Housing Corporation? And is the BHC
Government receiving any revenues from that to help
offset those expenditures? But we would not be able
to have that comparison, have that conversation,
based on the lack of information that is provided for
us.
Here is an interesting one on that one, Ma dam Chairman. If you look on page B -204 for this particular Head, it starts like all the other heads and gives a mission statement. The mission statement for the BHC this year just said rental and mortgage assi stance— end of story. If you want to c ompare last
year’s statement, last year’s Book said the mission
statement was, “To provide accessibility to adequate,
affordable housing and promote independent living to
enhance the quality of life in Bermuda.” A pretty good mission statement compared to the two words that are
there this year.
Again, the lack of information that is being
provided does not give you much to really gauge what
the pluses or minuses are that have been achieved
through that particular Head for any given year on this debate. And I will admit that that is a light one that I
am maybe making a light point of, but it is one that I think is really becoming a . . . it really needs to be gi ven further consideration as to how we use that to pr ovide more information for us in this particular debate.
Minister, under Head 49, the Land Valuation,
on page B -202, under the Revenue source, whilst on
your feet . . . and it is here in the revenue summary. It
indicates that the revenue compared to last year and this year, from the original last ye ar to the estimate for
this year, has gone up by $1,000. Last year’s original
was $5,000; this year’s estimate is $6,000, so it has
gone up by $1,000. However, my question here is that the revised indicated that, in fact, last year was only
$1,000. And it was supposed to be from the appeals
to the tribunal hearings was the revenue source. I am
just wondering how many of those appeals took place
and whether there was a decrease, a decline in appeals expected? And to go back and take the number and increase t he number, the estimate this year, is
that being realistic?
Again, another revenue source question for
you, Minister, under Head 33 [sic] , the revenue
source—
Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Head 33?
1360 9 March 2016 Official Hansard Report
B ermuda House of Assembly Hon. Dennis P. Lister: Under Head 36 (I am sorry),
on page B -197, the revenue source here indicated
that the original for last year was $100,000. The est imate for this year is again $100,000, but the revised
for last year ended up being just $30,000. If you com-pare that to the actual for the year 2014/15, which was
$21,000, it seems like the $30,000 may be more real-istic than the $100,000. I was wondering if you have any explanation on that one to provide some clarity to that.
[
Pause]

Shadow Minister, you have about 10
minutes left.
Hon. Dennis P. L ister: All right, thank you, Madam
Chairman.
Minister, under Head 68, Parks, before I mention the question, let me put something out that was in my notes. What was in my full presentation today was to actually praise Parks. And I am sure that the senior officers here can pass that on to the personnel. But
the recent work that was done at White Hill Field to clean the field, led a lot by the Parks Department, helped to bring the community together and spend a few days down at the field clearing and cleaning and
bringing back a lot of potential that had been hidden by the overgrowth. I think the Parks Department led
by Mr. Sam Santucci needs to be commended for the
effort up there. It has not gone unnoticed by the com-munity. They are continually giving high remarks to your team for that and I just want to have that acknowledged.
But Madam Chairman, my question here under the employee numbers on page B -208 for Parks,
is in reference to lifeguards. I think while you were on your feet you gave quite a few comments in reference to the lifeguards, the training, et cetera. That is the permanent number going across 12 from 2015 to next
year’s projections 2017. But in the year 2014/15 there
were two actual employees. The number is not up to 12.
My question here is (and I know it has been
one over the years): How many actual Bermudians are employed in the lifeguard services on an annual
basis? There was one time when it seemed like quite
a few of the persons who were employed in that pr ogramme were lifeguards who were brought here from
overseas. And with all the training that you have made mention of that is taking place, I wonder if efforts are being made now to get more Bermudians trained up
to be able to provide the lifeguard services for us?
Okay?
Under the same Head and lifeguard services,
under performance measures, the forecast was four beaches to be served or patrolled? Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Yes.
Hon. Dennis P. Lister: You projected that it could be
six beaches this year?
Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Expanding.
Hon. Dennis P. Lister: Expanding? Your mission
statement or your department objective needs to be adjusted because you are saying five there. So we have got four in one line, five in another line, and six in the—
Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Is it?
Hon. Dennis P. Lister: Yes, look at page B -5205, it
says there are going to be five beaches that will be patrolled. The forecast is saying four beaches and then the target for this year is six beaches. I only spotted that because I was looking at the lifeguard s tats
just now while I was talking to you. All right?
Under Parks, the Railway Trails, cost centre
78100. Under your performance measures the total
monthly maintenance rotations, the original for last
year was 27, we only had 10 achieved. This year we
are back to 24 as a target. Again, with the efforts to try
to get Bermuda in a pristine state for not only our tour-ists, but for the locals, because if you have any ac-cess to the railway [trails] you know, quite a few Ber-mudians walk on a regular basis and jog and cycle up
and down our railway trails. As one of those persons who [does that], it is a concern that the trails are not being serviced regularly enough to keep them cut back and cleaned as they could be, which would be more of an encouragement, particu larly for folks like
visitors and others who walk there. So I think it would
be incumbent upon us to make sure we have them in
the best condition as we can. Because for those who do not live near or have access to them, they are used quite a bit on a regular daily basis by those who like to keep fit and see their railway trails as an excellent
source of being able to stay fit.
[Pause]
Hon. Dennis P. Lister: Now, Madam Chairman, when
time is short like this and you have to leave your pr epared presentation and fumble through, it provides these silent gaps that I do not like. But I am going to
. . . Question Minister: The Agricultural Exhibition.
Again, under your objectives for this year you have included it as a production that one of the department objectiv es is to produce the annual exhibition. There is
no cost allocated for it. I know that it is a private par tnership, so to speak, that is being put together to re-establish what was not done last year, meaning for the first time they had not had an Agricult ural Exhibition in years. But is this an indication here that there will be absolutely no cost to Government, is that cor-rect?


Bermuda House of Assembly On Head 68, Parks, under the expenditures
on page B -206, under cost centre 78110 there is no
dollar figure indicated for this ye ar’s event, so no cost
to Government? I would assume that is what zero
means, no cost, but I am asking for you to clarify that
when you are on your feet.

You have four minutes remaining.

Hon. Dennis P. Lister: Four minutes remaining.
Thank you, Madam Chairman.
Minister, in reference to Head 49, Land Title
. . . Land Valuation. With the new land valuations that
have been mailed out to homeowners in recent times,
there is a six -month period for them to object. Can you
give any indication as t o how many objections the
Ministry may have received at this point in regard to
the new valuations that were placed on properties?
Madam Chairman, I am just taking one last
look through to make sure there is not a red mark I
have made that I did not speak to.
Madam Chairman, I think I am going to . . .
there is probably about two minutes left?

Yes.

Hon. Dennis P. Lister: I am going to give the Minister
a moment to try and answer a couple of those questions. Now, everybody is chuckling.
But before I take my seat I would like to,
again, commend the staff from the Ministry. As I said, I had served as Minister there for a short period of
time, and some of those faces are faces that were
there then providing the excellent service that they did. And I would just like to say I appreciate the service that was provided and to encourage them to continue as they do.
Thank you.

It has been moved that Heads 36, 49,
53, 68, 81, 82 and 97 be approved.
Are there any objections to that motion? No objections.
Agreed to.

[Gavel]

[Motion carried: The Ministry of Public Works, Heads
36, 49, 53, 68, 81, 82 and 97 were approved and
stand part of the Estimates of Revenue and Expend itures for the year 2016/17.]

[Pause]

House resumed at 7:02 pm

[Hon. K. H. Randolph Horton, Speaker, in the Chair]

Yes, carry on.
Hon. E. T. (Bob) Richards: Mr. Speaker, the Bill I
now put before the Honourable House is the Payroll
Tax Amendment Act 2016.
The purpose of the Bill is to increase the rates
of payroll tax as set out in the Payroll Tax Rates Act
1995 and to create a new special situation for certain
construction workers employed on approved devel-opment projects of national importance.
As announced in the National Budget Stat ement, as an interim measure, the standard rate of
payroll tax is to be adjusted to 15.5 per cent in the
Fiscal Year 2016/17, an adjustment of 1 per cent.
1362 9 March 2016 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly There will be, Mr. Speaker, a similar adjustment of
one percentage point for the majority of other rate
categories.
While the salary cap in the payroll tax structure will remain at $750,000 per year in 2016/17, the rate of tax recoverable from employees will be i ncreased from 5.5 per cent to 6 per cent. This is so that
the increase may be shared by both employer and employee at their discretion.
The Bill now before Honourable Members
provides for this adjustment of payroll tax.
Mr. Speaker, the following categories will not
be affected by the increase:
1. An educational, sporting or scientific instit ution, associatio n or society, which in the Mini ster’s opinion is carried on otherwise than for the purpose of gain by its individual members.
2. A self -employed person carrying on the bus iness as a taxi driver or a fisherman or a
farmer or a horticulturalist.
3. An employer or self-employed person with an
annual payroll of less than $200,000.

The rate of payroll tax for these categories of
business will remain at 7.25 per cent.
Mr. Speaker, payroll concessions currently in
place for the hospitality, restaurant, and retail sectors
will continue to be partially rolled back in 2016/17 with
businesses in these sectors paying a rate of 8 per
cent, up from 5.5 per cent. It is up to the employers in
these sectors to decide how much of this roll -back will
be transferred to employees.
Mr. Speaker, it should be noted that the roll -
back of these particular concessions were applied administratively and not provided for in this Bill. These
concessions were never meant to be permanent and
the Government is now looking to reduce them. Since
these concessions have been in place, Government
has forgiven $151 million in payroll tax.
The total payroll tax yield with the revised rate
structure and partial roll -back of payroll tax concessions is estimated at $390 million in 2016/17. It is estimated that $25 million will emanate from the i ncreased rate structure and $11 million from the partial
roll-back.
Mr. Speaker, this Bill also provides for the
regularisation of the payroll tax relief targeted towards
the construction of specific projects deemed of national importance as approved by the Economic D evelopment Committee. This relief was announced by
the Minister of Finance in June 2014 and has been
managed by the Office of the Tax Commissioner ad-ministratively.
Previously, this relief was provided by w ay of
a payroll tax rebate programme. It is now proposed to legislate the relief by creating a special situation in which the remuneration paid by a construction employer to an employee carrying out direct construction
work on a designated project or projects is not charged the standard payroll tax rate, but a concessionary rate equivalent to the statutory proportion of
tax which is recoverable from employees. The payroll
tax cost to the construction company will be zero if the
employer decides to deduct the full recoverable rate from the employee as per normal.
This Bill has been tabled in order to enact this
relief and provide a legislative structure for reporting by the taxpayer. An employer can only benefit from
this concession if they are in good standi ng with r egard to their payment of payroll tax.
Mr. Speaker, in 2016/17 in the Budget Stat ement, I announced that the Caribbean Technical A ssistance Centre (CARTAC) had completed their ana lysis of Bermuda’s tax system and presented their r eport to the Mini stry of Finance. CARTAC recommended many widespread changes in our tax system and
many of their recommendations form the basis for the
tax reform measures I announced in the Budget
Statement. These measures also took into account
consultations with major s takeholders in business,
and modifications by the Ministry of Finance and Go vernment.
An important part of proposed tax reform consists of changes to the payroll tax structure. As Honourable Members are aware, we are increasing it by
1 per cent to be shared by employer and employee.
Mr. Speaker, Government is currently consi dering reforms to the payroll tax structure to make it more progressive and to yield additional revenue. The
current structure takes little or no account of the ability
to pay of employers or their employees. It therefore puts a relatively heavy burden on lower income employees. The challenge is to weigh the desire to make
payroll tax more equitable against the needs of the
Government to raise revenue and its impact on bus inesses. In order to get that balance right the Gover nment will continue, as I mentioned in the Budget
Statement, the consultation with business, receiving more detailed data from employers in order to model
the outcomes of various tax scenarios. This will be
performed in the coming months of this fiscal year.
The restructured payroll tax system is to be
implemented in Fiscal Year 2017/18. While the reformulated payroll tax structure is slated for implement ation next fiscal year, the Government demands to r educe the defici t are immediate. Therefore, as an interim measure, this Bill proposes to increase payroll tax to generate much- needed revenue. I have already
talked about the standard rates as they will be i ncreased.
Mr. Speaker, this budget, similar to last year,
include s other increases in various taxes including the
increase of payroll taxes and in strategic terms it is a departure from previous years. It has been determined that the deficit will not be broken by spending
cuts alone, as I have talked about in the Budget
Statement, and perhaps more importantly, the strat egy that I announced at that time and being impl eBermuda House of Assembly mented here is based on the expectation that the
state of the economy, as opposed to the past, maybe,
six years, is going to be in a position to withstand i ncreases in taxes. And we do that with our knowledge
of the state of the economy plus the expectation of the
stimulus efforts that we expect to be forthcoming in
the next —not even 12 months, but the next 9 months.
The Fiscal Responsibility Panel made note of
this when they said that economic growth prospects
over the next few years looked better than for some
years, providing a window of opportunity to reduce
debt to a safer level. There are additional expend itures that Government will have to make, expenditures that will have to be financed. They have to be
financed from tax revenue as much as possible i nstead of being financed by additional debt. It should be noted that even with this proposed tax increase and others included in this budget, Bermuda’s rev enues as a percentage of GDP are one of the lowest
among small island economies and are not high
enough to achieve or maintain long- term fiscal stabi lity.
Mr. Speaker, this increase in payroll tax and
other taxes should in no way be interpreted as a
change in policy with regards to Government’s commitment to hold and reduce expenditures.
Mr. Speaker, the reality is that the current
revenue streams cannot pay for the Government as it
is presently structured in size and it is vital that the
Government continue its fiscal consolidation strategy
by increasing revenues, but at the same time controlling and reducing expenditures, thereby, working the
deficit down eventually to zero.
Mr. Speaker, fiscal consolidation must remain
the Government’s top priority as it i s no doubt the bi ggest threat to the future prospects of our way of life in
Bermuda. It is a problem that has to be challenged
here and now and this is part of the Government’s
plan to bring Government’s finances under control.
Mr. Speaker, in conclusion, I would like to a dvise this Honourable House that in the lead- up to the
2016/17 Budget, the Ministry of Finance consulted with the Chamber of Commerce, the Bermuda Hotel
Association, the Association of Bermuda International
Companies, and the Association of Bermuda Insurers
and Reinsurers on these tax increases. In the spirit of
collaboration, the Government considered it important
to meet with these key stakeholders on this important
matter.
With those introductory remarks, Mr. Speaker,
I would now invite other Members to contribute to the
debate.

Mr. Speaker, missing from the
Minister’s brief, which should of course be the headline, is that the One Bermuda Alliance Government will be raising employee portion of payroll tax to the
highest level in history. Let me say that gain, Mr.
Speaker, employees, under the One Bermuda All iance, will pay the highest payroll tax in history. Not employers though, employers are not going back to
levels that were seen in 2010, but employees will see
levels that are higher than in 2010.
And why do I bring this up, Mr. Speaker? It
seems as though if the One Bermuda Alliance seems
content to let the workers suffer and the let the wor kers bear —and I would say an unreasonable—a larger
burden than, I guess, the Progressive Labour Party
would or was willing to do. But that is what we have
here.
Now, Mr. Speaker, we know, I could stand
here and speak for 20, 30, 40, even up to 60 minutes on the dangers of raising taxes when the economy is
weak, but I do not need t o make those statements
because the Minister of Finance has already made
those statements previously when he was the Shadow Minister of Finance and he was lecturing the Progressive Labour Party.
The fact remains that the Minister had lots of
choices. The Minister could have started reconsider-ing the tax code way back in 2014 when he was advised to do. He could have taken a look at the various reports that were produced . . . I can look at the open
budget report or the pre- budget report which was pr oduced i n 2012 speaking to the necessity of broadening the tax base. All those things could have been
considered.
But in his first budget —steady as she goes.
Second budget —admonished us for saying that now
is not the time to change our tax system. And here in
the Minister’s fourth budget he is now committed to
reforming the tax system, but yet we have to have a
so-called “temporary tax increase” while he figures out
what he is going to do with payroll tax.
That is all well and good, Mr. Speaker, the
thing is that the people are the ones that are going to
pay for, I guess I could call it, the slow movement, I
could call it the lack of willingness to listen, lack of willingness to take advice, lack of willingness to u nderstand what is needed to fix our structural budget deficits.
But nonetheless, Mr. Speaker, we are here
today. Nonetheless, the Government will pass . . . and
come April 1
st, employees in Bermuda will pay the
largest share of their earnings to payroll tax. Now I
think this is key, Mr. Speaker, becaus e at the same
time as we are seeing this payroll tax increase to
6 per cent on employees, we will note that health i n1364 9 March 2016 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly surance, which was promised to go down underneath
the One Bermuda Alliance —I remember the budget —I
mean, I remember the platform that said it was going
to go down. We know that health insurance costs are
going up. We understand the Minister is raising taxes on fuel, so we know that prices are going to go up,
expenses are going to go up, the cost of living is going
to continue to increase at t he same point in time that
employees will take home less money in their pocket.
Do you know what that is, Mr. Speaker? That
is a falling standard of living. And what this budget
and what this Bill will do is will make the standard of
living of the people in this country [lower]. The One
Bermuda Alliance was elected on the platform of r educing the cost of living. What have they done to r educe the cost of living, Mr. Speaker? Everything has
gone up, including taxes. Take- home wages have
gone down. Civil serv ants and many in the private
sector —many, not all, many in the private sector —
have seen their wages frozen. Some have even seen
their wages reduced or cut. People are taking home less money. Yet, employees are going to be bearing
the highest share of payro ll taxes ever. And this from
a Government that says they listen, this from a Government that says they care. I think the people are
passing their own judgment as to whether or not the
Government is actually sincere in their words.
Since the One Bermuda Al liance has come to
office 2,266 jobs were lost out of this economy, Mr. Speaker. Now, last year the Minister of Finance said,
and I quote: “Payroll taxes, our primary source of revenue, for example, is not a tax on consumption at all.
It is a tax on labour —not a type of taxation that would
tend to increase the number of jobs.”
In that very statement the Minister of Finance
stated or was making the argument that an increase in
payroll taxes can have a negative effect on emplo yment. So after job losses every year underneath his
tenure, he is now increasing payroll taxes on emplo yers and employees at the highest level, thus lessening
the purchasing power of employees in the economy
when we already know their standard of living is r educed, and I am trying to figure out why the Minister
does not believe that this would have a negative i mpact on jobs. He said that it will have a negative i mpact on jobs, yet he is going ahead to raise taxes.
I will ask the Minister when he gives his r esponse, why was there no consideration given to rai sing the ceiling of those persons who will pay taxes? Because of course, in the tax system that we have in
Bermuda, there is a ceiling which the Progressive Labour Party put up by a significant amount. We inheri ted it, I want to say, at $200,000 and it was raised up
to $750,000. That $750,000 cap was done in 2010, I
believe, or possibly that was 2010. So it has been
there for about six years now. Why was there no con-sideration given to raising the cap? Because, to be
clear, there are per sons, their companies, clearly, are
over that level, who can afford to pay. So why has that change not taken place? Why has the Honourable
Minister of Finance seen fit to levy the largest tax burden on employee payrolls in the history of this cou ntry?
So, Mr. Speaker, I can say I do not have to
say anything more because the people of this country
on April 1
st will feel the impacts of the Minister’s budget when they have less money to take home in their
weekly pay packets, less money to take home in their
monthly pay packets, and that, Mr. Speaker, is the
record of the One Bermuda Alliance, the record of a
Government that said they were going to come into
office to lower the cost of living and has come into
office, raised the cost of living and [lowered] the
standard of living. That is the result —job losses, i ncreased taxes, and reduced economic activity and a lower standard of living for the people of this country.
There is no doubt that this Budget sent shi vers down the spines of the ordinary people in this
country, Mr. Speaker, whether they be Mr. Dill from
Ord Road or Mrs. Smith from Parson’s Road, they are
going to have to dig deeper into their pockets to pay
for taxes for a Minister of Finance that did not listen to
the advice that he was given from the O pposition to
pay close attention to reforming the tax system to get
rid of our structural budget deficit.
Next year, I hope that if the Minister of F inance is still the Minister of Finance that he will be —

[Inaudible interjections]

Next year, if the Minister of F inance is still the Minister of Finance, one would wo nder if we are goi ng to hear that he was not able to put
together a payroll tax change in a year so that we are
going to be stuck with what was said to be a temporary increase—there was very little mention of tempo-rary in the Minister’s brief —the Budget Statement said
that this tax increase was “temporary,” the question is
whether or not this temporary increase will turn into something that is more long term. Because we have
seen a lot of tax things that have been temporary that
have come to be long term.
So with that, Mr. Speaker, I will take my seat.
But I will leave the people with this reminder; this Mi nister of Finance is raising the employee’s share of payroll taxes to the highest level ever.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.



Bermuda House of Assembly The Speaker: All right. Thank you, Honourable Member Burt.
The Chair will now recognise the Honourable
Premier.
Premier?

Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Good evening colleagues.
I felt compelled to speak briefly tonight, not
only in support of my honourable colleague the Deputy Premier and the Minister of Finance, but just to set
the record straight for those amongst us, especially the Honourable Member, who if he is sitting in that
seat next year will see the changes we make to the
tax code. I say that because we know what is going
on across that side of the House, he could be sitting
anywhere.
But, Mr. Speaker, it is clear —

[Inaudible interjection]

Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: You can stand up and
speak too, Honourable Member.
Mr. Speaker, it is clear that no one— no one—
likes tax incre ases. And a Government does not like
to increase taxes. It is the last thing that any Gover nment would like to do. And this Government is no di fferent.
So I have to remind Honourable Members
who want to stand up and teach us lessons in what went on in the past and what not to do and what to do
as far as Government finances go, is we are in this
position because of the state we find ourselves in because of this handling of the public purse in 14 years, specifically the last five years, under the former administration. And if things were not so dire we would
not have to take these steps to turn things around. So
you cannot have your cake and eat it too, Mr. Speaker. And that Honourable Member should know better
than others because he sat in another place as a Junior Minister of Finance and all the while, while the debt
was going up [and he] was questioned about it, he
said it was the right thing to do. And I remember the
2 per cent increase in payroll tax that Honourable
Member argued for.
So, Mr. Speaker, you cannot have your cake
and eat it too.

Thank you. Thank you, Honourable
Member.
Premier?

Hon. Michael H. Dunkley: Mr. Speaker, then the
Honour able Member mentions this Budget sent shi vers down the spine. Now, clearly, this Budget was accepted as a prudent and appropriate thing to do by
many people, but I also readily admit that this Budget
with increases in taxes is something that we only did
as a last resort. But it is our way to continue to try to
improve the situation in Bermuda, certainly Gover nment’s finances. So against that backdrop we had
relatively few options for us to move forward and we decided that this was the most appropriate way t o do
that.
In regard to reforming the tax system, the
Honourable Member who just spoke said that over and over and over again, and now I am glad that the
Honourable Member has the fortitude to support a
reform of the tax system because it never happened
when they were on this side or in another place on the
Government benches. And we will move forward with
the reforming of the tax system, and I have to com-mend the Minister of Finance for the approach he has
taken and for being a Minister of Finance who has
consulted more broadly than anyone who has ever
had that responsibility. And that is a fact. That is a
fact.
And so when we talk about tax and increases,
everyone has their theories and they all can sound quite plausible at times, but at the end of the day, the
rubber will always meet the road and you will have to
make decisions. And this Budget continues to help us
move back along that progress of recovery that we
need. But it will have some drawbacks amongst those in the community and we understand and we accept
that. We will do all we can to make sure that recovery
spreads deeper and deeper into the community.
So our colleagues on this side support our
Minister in the tough decisions that he has made and
he will continue to make because we will move f orward.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Good evening.
1366 9 March 2016 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly
Hon. Marc A. R. Bean: Mr. Speaker, I will be very
brief. I know that having listened to the remarks by the
Honourable Premier, where even if he did not intend
to he still went down t hat road of blaming or reflecting
on what has happened in the past.
Now, Mr. Speaker, we had a very robust ge neral economic debate a few weeks ago. And it was during that time that mention was made by myself and
others on this side that in spite of the fi scal conditions
we found ourselves in three years ago or two years
ago or a year ago, the fact of the matter is —and it
cannot be disputed—that this move today to raise the
payroll tax is, in fact, one of the major policy errors
that the United Bermuda . . . sorry, I apologise (a slip
of the tongue) . . . that the One Bermuda Alliance
Government has embarked upon.
Now, I am not saying that to argue or to attack
the Minister. He made it clear previously that any Mi nister of Finance only has three or four diff erent policy
options in their tool kit when having to grapple with an
increasing deficit and an increasing debt. You can
either tax more or you can cut spending, or a combination of the two, or you can try and just increase taxes and not cut spending. Either way unless you embark on a balanced approach, which we do not consider this to be a balanced approach, eventually, ult imately, you will find a negative impact on our economy.
Mr. Speaker, we need jobs more than ever.
That must be the priority of this Government. It cer-tainly is the priority of us in the Opposition. Now, if
there was one fiscal decision that can destroy jobs by the stroke of a pen, certainly it must be the increasing
of taxes, in particular, taxing labour.
Now, I am not sure if the Honourable Minister
actually looked at any other option, but to say or to get
up and act like you have done something that is r emarkable, that is not the case at all. As my Deputy Leader and Shadow Minister of Finance has clearly
stated, this is a backward step, it is going to punish
those who earn the least, it is going to punish bus inesses. In fact, Mr. Speaker, it is going to punish ev eryone in the country for some short -term gain that
more than likely will come with long- term cons equences.
It will come with long- term consequences, Mr.
Speaker, and that is what I mean by the error of this
policy. Now I have waited to hear the Honourable
Premier give a contribution on economic policy i nstead of repeating the same narrative we hear over and over again. I know the Honourable Minister of
Finance can get up and say, Well, this is why we are
doing this. In fact, he has already done it. But what
other substantive contribution can come from the
Head of this Government when we are speaking about taxation? It is zero. Nothing. Nothing of substance. And it is a shame because what we are di scussing to me transcends politics. It transcends polit i-cal parties. Because if the One Bermuda Alliance was
so different from us —and you are not —from a policy
perspective, then you would have taken the opportun ity to reduce spending, to reduce expenditure. To r educe expenditure.
Mr. Speaker, the One Bermuda Alliance has
not reduced expenditure. So from an economic phi-losophy perspective, they are following the same path,
the same Keynesi an path that they accuse us of following. In fact, the approach of the Minister of Finance is the same in nature as to what my Deputy and Shadow proposes, it is just different in degree. There
is not too much of a distinction, Mr. Speaker.
So, I am waiting to hear something innovative,
something to justify this short -term burden that has
been placed upon the people of this country. What, do
you just get up and in two or three years and brag that somehow you balanced the budget? In theory, balancing a budget is fine; but what if it comes at the sacr ifice of the people you serve? Please name one bene-fit. I will ask the Honourable Minister or ask the Honourable Minister of Economic Development to name one benefit that can be accrued to this country by the
raising of taxes, in particular payroll tax.
For the record, I am sure you already know
that I am a person who advocates a broader lower tax
base. Now, some will say, If you lower the tax base,
you are going to have a revenue shortfall. Well, I tell
you what, Mr. Speaker, try increasing the tax rate by
20 per cent and see how much revenue you get then.
See? It is beyond theory. We are speaking about h uman action. The Minister of Finance could have raised
payroll taxes up by 5 per cent and he could have then
forecast the revenue as the result of that tax increase,
it could have actually reduced our deficit. That is what
he would say.
But, Mr. Speaker, I bet that if he did that then
we would actually have a revenue shortfall because
the higher the taxes you bring on the populace, the
more inclination they have to avoid paying taxes in the
first place. And I would think that if we want economic
growth, we would want to have full employment. Well,
you certainly cannot go on a path to full employment if
you are raisi ng employment tax. It is anti -economic. It
makes no sense.
So, I would have preferred to hear a more
balanced approach. I have said this before. I actually
think that we can and we must find better ways to r educe our deficit by reducing expenditure. I feel strongly about it, Mr. Speaker. I actually take offence to the
fact that the burden of taxation, which is really the confiscation of wealth, has been increased on all of
us. And so instead of getting up and beating your
chest and saying, Well, you did thi s and you did that .
. . like I said, what have you done lately that is different? Nothing, except increase the burden on Mr. and
Mrs. Bermuda.
So, yes, I would have preferred to have heard
an alternative. Is there another option that the Minister


Bermuda House of Assembly of Finance could have looked at? But certainly he
would know that the increase of payroll tax cannot be
a stimulant to this economy. It is impossible, even if
the Chamber of Commerce and all the other lobby groups who have been vocal up until about two, three
years ago, even if they were silent or even if they are
angry about that tax increase you would not see the
type of response that you would have gotten if it was
the PLP Government. That is a shame because ult imately it is only going to be a hindrance on their own
businesses.
So, Mr. Speaker, yes. Okay, we do have a
deficit. Yes, okay, we do have debt. And I certainly agree with the Honourable Minister of Finance that we
need to do whatever we can to reduce both for the
sake of posterity. But I just do not see . . . I do not understand this economic approach or this approach to
economic policy which says increase taxation . . . in
other words, remove the wealth that has been created
by those who produced it in this country —the producers of wealth— and transfer it into the hands of those
who did not produce it, i.e., the Government. That is
what it is. That is what taxation is. And what makes us
think that we up here can make a better decision on
how to allocate wealth that others have produced better than themselv es? It is the height of statism; it is the
height of arrogance.

[Inaudible interjection]

Hon. Marc A. R. Bean: Well, you all can laugh. And,
Premier, you can giggle. But I have not heard you
once speak of anything in terms of economic policy
since I have been in Parliament —not once. Not once,
okay?
And I know that the Honourable Ministers
might disagree with some of the things I am saying, but, trust me, they know what I am saying is valid.
There are other approaches to economics except that
. . . outside of what the status quo is, certainly, Mr.
Speaker. And right now it is not working. I am concerned that over the next three years we are going to
see an increase in unemployment. The cost of bus iness, as a result of this legislation, has now i ncreased. I do not see any positive effect by this payroll
tax rise except for the Minister of Finance in a year’s
time to get up and say, Well, see? I reduced the def icit. I do not think that is sufficient, Mr. Speaker, because there are multiple ways to reduce a deficit.
At some point, at some point we . . . and I
know how difficult it is, Mr. Speaker, because when
we are talking about reducing expenditure, what we
are really talking about is how that affects civil ser vants and their lives and how they pay their b ills. I u nderstand that. I am the Leader of the Labour Party. I
understand it. I understand the political risks of having
to make those tough decisions. I understand why the
Minister of Finance has not made those tough dec isions. But at some point sooner t han later I think we are going to find ourselves with our backs up against
the wall, fiscally. And we are not going to be able to
tax our way out of the situation. There is no chance
we are going to be able to do it. We are going to have
to make some very serious decisions.
And in my mind instead of the short -term step
to increase taxes I would like again to reiterate the
other option. If we are broadening the tax base by i ntroducing a GST, then it is important to look across at
the other tax areas and look to reduce those taxes. It
is absolutely essential. Broaden the base, but reduce
the burden, and I suspect that we will have an i ncrease in revenue to government’s coffers because
we have an increase of job creation, we have more
people paying into governm ent’s coffers because we
have more people working. And I would rather have 90 per cent of Bermudians fully employed and paying
and working with the revenue from that at a lower tax
rate than having 50 per cent of this population unemployed and paying at a higher tax rate. It does not
make any sense to me. It does not.
Now I see some on that side saying, Hmm,
what is he talking about? It is simple math. They u nderstand what I am saying. They understand what I
am saying. Some might because they are stuck on
Keynesianism. They have no choice. I understand
that, all right? But no one can argue that increasing
taxes is good for the economy —not one. In fact, if i ncreasing taxes was good for the economy, if that was the case, then Bermuda as an offshore financial j urisdiction would be out of the business. But for some
reason we have a competitive advantage by attracting
capital that is looking to have that lower tax rate, which I am altogether in favour of. But yet we are going to stand up here and think that a shif t of the tax
burden to the general populace is okay? It is not okay,
Mr. Speaker.
And so I would encourage, obviously not this
year, the Minister has got to do what he has to do,
and I accept that. But hopefully next year we can start
looking at pro- growth policies and increasing taxation,
payroll tax is not a pro- growth policy, Mr. Speaker. It is
not. It is not going to create any jobs. And in fact, it is
going to destroy jobs. And everyone on that side
knows it.
I think this is a shameful day. Why? Becaus e
we stand up here and we act like we know so much
about economics (I say “we”), and we really put on a
front because we take advantage of the fact that we
know the majority of the population, they tune out
when they hear finance talk or economic talk. We
know that. And so we front as if we know what we are doing, and I am concerned that many of us do not,
and many of us have not in the past.
So what I am speaking of is not to cast blame
at the Honourable Minister of Finance. Again, I reco gnise the policy position or policy stance that he has
taken, but I just do not think that it would be ultimately beneficial to the people of this country, and I will hope
1368 9 March 2016 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly that next year he will see fit, as we look to implement
GST, to reduce the level of taxation across t he board
so we can actually bite the proverbial bullet and act ually take the risk of having a short -term revenue shor tfall in order to stimulate long- term economic growth.
To me that is the only sensible way to go at
this point. And I hope, like I said, t hat the Honourable
Minister, once he sees the negative impact of this decision, will have the humility to reverse it and do at
that point the right thing.

Thank you, Honourable Member.
The Chair will now recognise the Honourable
Minister for Community and Sport, Minister Gordon -
Pamplin.
You have the floor.
Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Thank you, Mr.
Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, in contributing to this debate
there is one fundamental thing that we must bear in
mind. As a country, financially w e are broke.
Mr. Speaker, there is no wealth of funds that
we have at our disposal to be able to support the debt
service and the interest on the money that we have
had to borrow in order to ensure that the country
keeps its head above water.
Mr. Speaker, it does not take rocket science
to know that when you start to approach the limit of your borrowing and you find that you have run out of
funds and you have to borrow some more in order to
make ends meet and to fulfil the obligations that we
have to gov ernment expenditure, to the civil servants
to make sure that they get paid, and to all of the debt
servicing and the interest that we have to pay. If we
have to borrow money to do that, Mr. Speaker, the
cost of that borrowing becomes exponential. And before you know it, Mr. Speaker, we would not be able to
be in a position of funding that which we must do in terms of our expenditure.
Mr. Speaker, if we do not have a good glide
path to indicate how our deficits will be reduced and our approach towards our debt reduction, we are go-ing to be in serious trouble, we are going to be in ser ious trouble. Mr. Speaker, I think that we saw that in operation when we had an unannounced, unprepared for, 2 per cent pay rise on the payroll tax a few years
ago.
Mr. Speaker, we certainly looked at that because Bermuda is still feeling the impact of the wit hdrawal of companies that made the decision that that 2 per cent burden was more than they could bear and
they chose another option. They chose to relocate.
And with it, Mr. Speaker, took significant jobs, not out
of the public sector, but out of the private sector. And
we are reeling from that because the money that used to be flowing into the economy, and the excess that
flowed as a result of even that 2 per cent increase at that point in time, that is what you call being penny
wise and pound foolish.
We won the battle but lost the war, Mr.
Speaker. Because when the companies decided they
had options . . . and many of our international bus inesses have options, Mr. Speaker . They have Ireland,
which is really competitive with Bermuda in terms of
its favourable taxation situation —

They have higher taxes.

Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: They have higher
taxes, but it is more favourable than perhaps people leaving their money onshore either in the UK or the
United States.
Mr. Speaker, I work for an international company. The company for which I work and for which I
am responsible for ensuring the levels of taxation,
where we pay it and how much we pay, and that the
appropriate amounts are being paid, Mr. Speaker, we
have options. From just my own company, Mr.
Speaker, we have options of deciding whether we push the button in Bermuda and set up in places
where we already have offices —London, Brussels,
Ireland, S ingapore, Australia, and Brazil. Forget about
the United States because of the taxation burdens that occur there. Mr. Speaker, we have many options
and this is not isolated to one company or one set of circumstances.
So when we start to look at tax increas es, Mr.
Speaker, we do not want to have to do it, but we have to pay the bills. And the Finance Minister indicated through the Budget, Mr. Speaker . . . if you will just
allow me very briefly to refer to page 22 of the Budget
Statement he basically indicat ed that we are “consi dering reforms to the Payroll Tax structure to make it
more progressive and to yield additional revenue.”
Now there is a plethora of options that can be
brought to bear with that reform of taxation, Mr. Speaker, so that this is temporary. The Finance Mini ster indicated that it was temporary. This is temporary.
Not only that, Mr. Speaker, I am anticipating that when
we look further down the road, once we get the act uarial extrapolations respecting our pension funds, that
we will be able to add some more money in the kitty to be able to give our seniors a little bit more in their
pensions. We cannot do that without additional money
coming into the Consolidated Fund. We have to be
able to fund our responsibilities, Mr. Speaker.
So, while I take heed of the Honourable O pposition Leader’s comments with respect to taxation, when he said we need to be able to look at broadening the tax base, the Finance Minister has committed
to that, word for word, in the Budget Brief.
Mr. Speaker, we do not op erate in a vacuum
because every one of us, when we get our pay
cheque at the end of our week or two weeks or month or however frequently our pay cycles might run, we
see that money coming out. We see it coming out of


Bermuda House of Assembly our pay. So know that unless one is ind ependently
wealthy, and I certainly do not count myself in that
realm, Mr. Speaker, unless one is independently
wealthy, we notice that there is less money, less ex-pendable income available. But how else do we balance on the other side, Mr. Speaker, and that is in
stimulating the economy it is our responsibility to pr ovide an environment in which jobs are created—far
more jobs —so that there is more revenue coming in,
more money coming into the kitty, and hence, the i mpact to the individual will be able to be less.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to see the day where
people who earn a certain level (once we determine
what that level is) would have no tax on that revenue.
That is part of the reform that the Finance Minister has
committed to looking at. That is what we are looking
for, Mr. Speaker.
I would like to see the day, Mr. Speaker, that
the job market is such that it is supporting and helping
the stimulus within the economy such that we do not
have to show that there are significant burdens on the
taxpayer.
We do not take pride in the fact that we have
to raise this tax, Mr. Speaker, but we do take pride in
the fact that we are paying our bills and we do take
pride in the fact that as a country we are eliminating
the deficit and ultimately, hopefully, will be i n a pos ition to reduce the debt.
The one thing that I believe that we have to
hold hands on in this Honourable Chamber, Mr.
Speaker, is the idea that in order to have that stimulus
within the economy and putting jobs on the table, we
cannot be at odds with one another in which every
single project that this Government attempts to put
forward in terms of creating jobs —a job stimulus
package, if I can call it that —gets shot down by Members opposite. You cannot say on the one hand, We don’t want you to build t his, we don’t want you to do
this, we don’t want you to do these projects, we want
to make sure that . . . you know? I guess the thought
process appears to be, Mr. Speaker, if you do not
have enough money to pay the bills, go borrow some
more.
Mr. Speaker, we have international oblig ations. We have the necessity to ensure that our f inance ratings, our rating agencies, are able to look at
our financial position, our attitudes toward our debt
reduction to ensure that we are trying to manage it.
And in managin g it we have to raise some revenue. It
is our and it is my lament, Mr. Speaker, that we were not in the position to implement some of the changes
that were recommended and that we will see between
now and the next budget. Because as a Cabinet, as a
Governm ent, as a people, we cannot afford for these
reforms to take any longer. We have to ensure, Mr.
Speaker, that our policies are such that we are not
completely burdening to the point of oblivion our wor king population. We do not want to have to raise a dime worth
of additional taxes, Mr. Speaker, but we have to. That is the reality. We have the demand of goods and services, Mr. Speaker. The payroll tax does not come to
the Government. It does not come to the Cabinet. It goes into the Consolidated Fund of the country. And
of that, from that, is the provision of goods and services that are demanded by the people of the country.
Mr. Speaker, we cannot pay for things if we
do not have the money. It is important to understand— we are broke.
Mr. Speaker, you know, if you go to the bank,
if you look at your personal finances and you sort of
reach the brink of where your expenditure starts to
overtake your income, and you go to the bank and
say, I need an overdraft. At some point in time the
bank is going to say to yo u, Sorry, you’ve had enough
credit, show us what your plan is to pay down what
you have already borrowed because we’re not going
to lend you anymore. And that starts to hit at the very
heart of our financial stability and our financial credibi lity, Mr. Spe aker.
And trust me, Mr. Speaker, should the country
falter in terms of its credit agency ratings, the companies that have set up here, almost by default and as a
consequence will also find themselves being dow ngraded. That impacts how they operate their bus inesses.
Mr. Speaker, so this is just one snowball effect, but it is all predicated upon a horrendous debt
situation that we inherited that we had to exacerbate
in order to pay for the commitments that were in train
at the time that we took over.
Mr. Speaker, we are working assiduously to
be able to manage this, to put this . . . to wrestle this
beast to the ground, because in the absence of that it
will strangle us.
I regret having to see this increase, Mr.
Speaker. And the Honourable Member, the Honour able Shadow Finance Minister indicates, you know, Oh
Bermuda, listen. This is the highest taxes you’ve ever paid. The highest rate of taxes you’ve ever paid. Oh,
the sky is falling. The sky is falling because of the
debt. We have got to repay what we owe. And until we
come to grips with that, Mr. Speaker, that this becomes everybody’s responsibility and that . . . between now and next year we will be in a better pos ition with some of the contracts that are coming on
line, some of the jobs that are coming on l ine—
whether the Opposition wants them or not.
We are going to be having people back at
work —whether they like it or not. We are going to cr eate additional stimulus, an environment in which sti mulus is created to benefit the economy —whether they
like it or not. There is going to be the capacity to mi nimise taxation on people who are low earners, Mr.
Speaker, and whether they like it or not, we are going
to continue to work on wrestling the debt to the ground.
1370 9 March 2016 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly Otherwise, Mr. Speaker, we all fail. And I
know, Mr. Speaker, that from this Government’s perspective failure is not an option. And I would also want
to believe, from an Opposition perspective, notwit hstanding that they would like to know that they are in
charge to be able to drive the bus, at this point in time,
they are not. So when I hear the Shadow Finance
Minister make comments like, Oh, you didn’t listen to
us. Oh, you should have done what we told you to do
. . . Well, yes, you made some recommendations. But
you did not follow your own advice, so now we have inherited what you left us and that is fine. But I do not
want to go down the path of pointing fingers of blame.
I think it is important, if I make no other point,
Mr. Speaker, is to highlight and underscore the fact
one more time— we are broke and we have to pay our
indebtedness.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

[Desk thumping]

All right. Thank you, Honourable Mini ster.
Any other Honourable Member care to speak?
Minister of Finance.
Hon. E. T. (Bob) Richards: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I thank Honourable Members for their contr ibution to this debate. I have a couple of remarks
about some of the things that were said.
Mr. Speaker, in sports, as well as in life, as
well as in finance, timing is everything. Timing is ev erything. And when we were elected at the end of
2012, when I stood up here the first time for Budget, I
reported to the people of Bermuda that the Gover nment was about to have a $330 million deficit for the
previous year. Timing is everything. We could not
raise taxes then. We had to concentrate on cutting
costs. The economy was in shambles. A tax increase of this nature would have been, quite frankly, disastrous.
So, we did what we could under the circumstances that were prevailing at the time. And the Ho nourable Member who s peaks for Finance on the other
side said that we were punishing Bermudians. And I
do not think this is punishment. But if it is, it is pu nishment for the PLP’s indiscretions and not ours. But it
is something that has to be done. There was a point
made about how this is the highest payroll tax in the
history of Bermuda to individuals. But, Mr. Speaker,
when payroll tax was introduced, it was introduced at
11.5 per cent in 1995. When the PLP took over Government in 1998, it was 12 per cent.
Now, I increased payroll taxes last year by
0.5 per cent, to 14.5 per cent, and this year by 1 per
cent. That means that somewhere between 1998 and 2012, payroll taxes increased by 2 per cent. So nobody is unscathed by this. The former Government also raised payroll tax. A nd that does not include the disastrous, unconsulted payroll tax up to 16 per cent,
a 2 per cent rise, that the Honourable Member, my
colleague, spoke about a few minutes ago, that
caused great concern, and eventually it caused an
exodus of companies from Bermuda.
But, Mr. Speaker, I have said this already, that
it was not so much the fact that taxes were increased
at that time. The real crime here, the real breach here
was that there was an unspoken agreement between
the Government and international busin ess that any
such move of that nature would not take place without
prior consultation! And it was the lack of consultation
that was the breach, as opposed to the tax increase.
And that lack of consultation sent a message to the
business community, particul arly the international
business community, that, We cannot trust the PLP Government to keep their word. I really chuckle when
I hear stuff about trust deficits. I mean, this was the
ultimate breach of trust. And a lot of those folks cannot vote. But they v oted with their feet. They voted
with their feet. So those are important things to realise.
Mr. Speaker, also the Honourable Leader of
the Opposition was giving a what -if scenario. And he
said, you know, What if 90 per cent of our people
were employed? Well, Mr. Speaker, even with all the
unemployment we have in Bermuda, 93 per cent of
our people are employed!

[Laughter]

Hon. E. T. (Bob) Richards: Because the unemplo yment rate is 7 per cent! So, you know, I kind of took
note of that! So, what I have to r eiterate here . . . Oh,
one more thing before I reiterate. The Honourable
Member who speaks for Finance on the other side
talked about the cap of $750,000. The payroll tax caps out at that level. I want to assure him and the people
of Bermuda that the cap is in play insofar as our talks
with our corporate partners. We are in talks with our
corporate partners. I mentioned in my prepared brief
that we are running scenarios. We are running quant itative models on scenarios. And the cap is in play! It is
one of the things that is in play insofar as our consultative process is concerned, insofar as what they can
live with and what we need to reduce the deficit to
zero.
Some of the comments that I heard seem to
forget that the national debt and the budget deficit really are the most urgent and important threats that
face this country. There is a very, very nice ad on TV that I keep seeing, because I watch CNN, that shows
what is going to happen to the United States if they do
not get their deficit under control. They have a picture of highways, and they said, you know, Our infrastructure cannot be improved. And the cars that are on
those highways magically disappear . And it says,
Well, you know, we have our schools. And because of
the deficit, our schools won’t be able to be controlled,


Bermuda House of Assembly or we won’t be able to give the education to our st udents. And the students in the picture magically di sappear.
Well, they were saying that, you know, one
day that could happen to the United States because
the debt service in the Uni ted States will soon be the
largest, the third- largest budget item for the United
States! But, Mr. Speaker, it is already the secondlargest budget item for us! And if we do not do som ething about it, the $187 million debt service that we
have, it soon wil l take over Health as the biggest Mi nistry in Bermuda. So this is an extremely urgent situa-tion. And the Government would be irresponsible if we
did not do what we had to do to remediate the situation.
One of the Members talked about cutting expenditures. Well, as I said in the formal Budget
Speech, you know, we have cut expenditures in this
Government by $74 million. We have reduced the deficit from when we took over, which was $330 million.
This coming year it is going to be under $200 million.

Mr. Speaker, the Honourable Mi nister of Finance continues to state that when the One Bermuda Alliance took over, the deficit was $330 mi llion. The last PLP’s budget —the last PLP budget,
which the One Bermuda Alliance Minister of Finance
was the Finance Minister for three months during that time, was $226 million. That was the deficit. The $330
million was their first budget.

Thank you.
Minister.
Hon. E. T. (Bob) Richards: Mr. Speaker, that is just
not true, just not true.
So, Mr. Speaker, we have an Opposition that
just does not want to remember what it did. And they
do not want the Bermudian public to remember what
they did. I r emember when I was sitting over there, the
then- Finance Minister pledged to cut the cost of government by 10 per cent. And in the event, the cost of
government actually went up by several per cent.

Minis ter.

Hon. E. T. (Bob) Richards: Mr. Speaker, they say,
Let’s cut to the chase. Let’s get to the bottom line. The
bottom line is that when they took over from gover nment, the Government of Bermuda owed about $180 million. When we inherited this, it was lik e about a
$1.5 billion. That did not happen from budget cuts.
That did not happen from budget cuts. So not only is
what the Honourable Member saying counterintuitive,
it is “counter -truthful.”
[Laughter]

That is an interesting word, F inance Minister .
Hon. E. T. (Bob) Richards: So, Mr. Speaker, here is
the situation. The situation is that we are looking to put in a new payroll tax system that is progressive so that lower -earning members of our community have a
lower tax burden than the mor e fortunate members of
this community. I think even the Opposition agrees that that is a good objective. They had a long time to
prosecute that objective and make it a reality; they did
not do it. They had the opportunity to do it, too. B ecause when they t ook over the Government, the Go vernment was firing on all cylinders. It was a great time to do something like that —a great time. But they did
not do it. As a matter of fact, they did not change the
tax system at all!
So, I understand it was more difficult after
2009 when the Bermudian economy kind of started to
1372 9 March 2016 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly really contract. It would have been a very difficult time
to do it. But they had a number of —at least half of
their tenure in Government, they had an opportunity to
do something about that. They claim to be a labour
party, a party that represents the less -affluent in our
society. They had a chance, year after year after year,
to do something about that. They did not do it! Words
are less than cheap in this context. Words are wort hless. You talk about , they had ideas. They got religion
after they got kicked out of government? Come on!
When they were in government, they had chance after chance to do something about this. They did not do it!
Now, Mr. Speaker, this Government pledges
to do something about it. It is time. It is past time that we did something about the nature of this payroll tax system in Bermuda. And we are in the process of
making that change. I am hoping to be able to announce what that process is even before next year’s
Budget Statement. I am hoping to. But we are actively
engaged in coming up with a new structure that will be
more progressive for our country. It will enable us to attack this deficit in a more efficient and more effective
way. And that is what we are about to do.
So, b asically, timing is everything, Mr. Speaker, and this is the time to start making those changes. Certainly, this payroll tax increase that we are doing
now is not something that the Government would have wanted. But we are in a situation now where we
have to make progress on this deficit every year. Ev ery year we have to make progress on this deficit. And
we have made progress on this deficit. We have made
tremendous progress on this deficit. By over $100 mi llion a year we are making progress on this defici t. But
this year, we have had some significant expenses that we have had to deal with. And therefore, the reduction
of expenditures was just much more difficult.
I still have constant battles with my colleagues
on expenditures almost weekly. And that will continue.
However, in order for us to get to the target that we
wanted to get to this year, we could not wait until we
had a resolution to the restructuring of payroll tax. We
could not wait a year to have revenues at the level
they were last year. We could not wait to do that. It would have been imprudent and it would have been
counterproductive.
So we have had to raise payroll taxes in the
old structure, this year. It has been a necessity. So we
will come back with something that is agreed to as per
that unspoken, but very, very important pact that go vernments of Bermuda have had with international business, that in particular, payroll taxes will not be
increased without prior consultation. That is the key here! And somebody on the other side is talking about
what we are doing this year is a disastrous mistake?
Well, we know what a disastrous mistake is, Mr.
Speaker. And that was the mistake that my predeces-sor did when she increased payroll taxes by 2 per
cent without consultation with the private sector . We live in a small community. We cannot
blindside people on taxes. I have talked about a GST (general service tax). It is coming. We do not have a
lot of details to reveal right now, but it is coming. And I
am saying it is coming now so that I do not bl indside
anybody! We are not here to blindside people. So, Mr.
Speaker, with those not -so-few words —

[Laughter]

Hon. E. T. (Bob) Richards: —I would like to read this
a second time and have the Bill be committed.

Members, we are now in Committee
of the whole [House] for further consideration of the Bill entitled P ayroll Tax Amendment Act 2016
.
I call on the Minister in charge to proceed.
Minister, you have the floor.
Hon. E. T. (Bob) Richards: Thank you, Madam
Chairman.
Madam Chairman, this Bill, entitled the Payroll
Tax Rates Amendment Bill 2016, seeks to amend
section 9 of the Payroll Tax Act 1995 to create a new
special situation for certain construction workers e mployed on approved development projects of national importance, and to increase certain rates of payroll tax
as set out in the Payroll Tax Rates Ac t 1995.
Madam Chairman, I think we have seven
clauses, and I would like to move them all if that is all
right.

Are there any objections to that m otion?
No, there are no objections.
Please proceed.

Hon. E. T. (Bob) Richards: Thank you, Madam
Chairman.
The first clause is self -explanatory.
Clause 2 amends section 9(2) of the Payroll
Tax Act 1995 by inserting a new paragraph, section
9(2)(g). This creates an additional special situation for
certain construction workers employed on develo pment projects deemed to be of national importance


Bermuda House of Assembly and approved by the Economic Development Commi ttee, provided that the remuneration paid to the employee is for direct construction labour for the approved development project only and that the emplo yer is not in arrears with the payment of payroll tax.
Clause 3 amends section 3(1) and (2) of the
Payroll Tax Rates Act (the Rates Act) so as to i ncrease the standard rate by one percentage point
from 14.5 per cent to 15.5 per cent.
Clause 4 amends section 4 of the Rates Act.
Section 4(3) is amended so as to increase by one- half
of a percentage point (from 5.5 per cent to 6.0 per
cent) the rate prescribed for the purpose of the special
situation in section 9(2)(f) of the Payroll Tax Act 1995.
New section 4(4) prescribe s 6 per cent as the rate for
the purpose of the new special situation in [new] sec-tion 9(2)(g) [of the Payroll Tax Act] inserted by clause 2.
Clause 5 amends section 5 of the Rates Act
to increase by one percentage point the rates payable
by employers fall ing within Class A, paragraphs (a),
(b) and (c) of Class B, and Class BB (increasing from
10.25 per cent, 7.75 per cent, 11.25 per cent and
13.25 per cent to 11.25 per cent, 8.75 per cent,
12.25 per cent, and 14.25 per cent, respectively).
Boy, that was a bit of a mouthful.

The Clerk: Yes.

Hon. E. T. (Bob) Richards: For employers falling
within Class C, the increase is one- half of a percen tage point, from 5.5 per cent to 6.0 per cent.
Clause 6 amends section 7 of the Rates Act
to increase the statutory pr oportion of tax recoverable
from employees from 5.5 per cent to 6.0 per cent.
Clause 7 provides for commencement on
April 1
st, 2016.

Thank you very much, Madam
Chairman.
Madam Chairman, regarding clause 2, during
the Committee of Supply, there was discussion about
this new thing that is going to be inserted into the tax
code regarding projects of economic importance. And
when the Minister listed off the projects of economic
importance, they were all basically tourism projects, which all, I guess you could say, already have existing
concessions through hotel concessions, orders which
have been tabled in this Parliament.
So I guess I am wondering what the Minister
would say what the need for this is, or is there a bid to get rid of concessions? Is this to tighten concessions?
Is it a direct construction, whereas payroll tax conce s-sions that are extended under hotel concessions may
be broader and it could be for project managers and
management, et cetera? So I was hoping the Minister
could elaborate a little bit more on that particular
statement.
I think that it is also key, and I will continue to
repeat it, that I think that it is not the best thing, esp ecially in the time when employees are seeing their cost of living increase across the board and ever ywhere, that the Government has seen fit to increase payroll tax reco vered by employees at the highest
level that it has ever been. And it is sad that the Go vernment would not look at , at least making sure that
that was a little bit more equitable from the perspec-tive of the employers and the employees, especially
knowing t he hard times and the lack of increase in
wages and the increase in all factors of cost of living
that most Bermudians have to deal with.