GOVERNOR AND PREMIER TO ANNOUNCE COST-CUTTING MEASURES

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

His Excellency the Governor Mr. David Pearey and Premier and Minister of Finance Honourable Ralph T. O’Neal, OBE, will hold a joint press conference on Wednesday at 10am to announce decisions taken by the Cabinet to manage the growth of the public service.

The joint press conference will be broadcast live on radio station ZBVI and public officers working in the Central Administration Building will be able to listen on the intercom system.

The public is encouraged to tune in and learn more about government’s effort to reduce the overall operating and personnel costs with the introduction of cost-cutting measures to make the public service more affordable in the long term.

Just last year, Premier O’Neal announced, during his ministerial press conference, a new travel policy for public officers as a monitoring and accountability tool to control travel expenditure which totaled $1.6 million in 2008.

Given the current economic climate, government plans to implement more stringent control measures to effectively manage public expenditure, foster greater fiscal prudence and derive greater value for money. The public service is the Territory’s largest employer with approximately 3200 public officers.