COSTA RICA NEWS — The dilemma of the Legislative Assembly Financial Affairs Subcommittee appeared to be a sitcom — without the laugh track. We had a chairman, lawmaker Otton Solis, about to cut a huge chunk out of the budget of the Administration of his own party.
Then enter last weekend a substitute member and sworn enemy of Solis, Victor Morales, who is also of the same Citizen Action Party (PAC) as the President and the chairman, but closer to President Luis Guillermo Solis than to the chairman. Then Monday, after all the suspense, the subcommittee voted to turn down the cuts, at least for now.
If this seems a letdown (maybe the script writer went on vacation) you’re not the only one. Of the five person subcommittee, only two voted for the proposed cut — the man who made them (Otton Solis) and National Liberation Party deputy Rolando Gonzalez.
Rosibel Ramos of the Social Christian Unity Party voted against accepting the cuts because she said she received word the the Administration wanted 48 hours more to present some alterations to the budget. The 48 hours end Tuesday. Meanwhile the clock goes tick, tick, tick!
The subcommittee has until the end of this month to present definitive recommendations to the committee. The irony is that a five-man subcommittee was specified because the smaller number of members is supposed to be more agile and faster to finish a report.
Sunday afternoon the Administration sent a letter to the deputies expressing willingness to make cuts — just not the cuts Otton Solis wants. Oh, yes — in another wrinkle, Victor Morales was not present Monday but the person he substituted for last weekend, Abelino Rodriguez of Renovacion Costarricense Party, was.
The right wing Union of Cambers and Private Enterprise Associations, came out four square for the cuts, saying that it would be a good signal to the international credit rating bodies that this country was finally taking steps toward curing its increasing overspending and debt problem.
And the sit-com without the laugh track continues…
Articel by iNews.co.cr
I whole-heartedly agree that budget cuts must take place for 2015. However, I believe that a large portion of these cuts need to be in public sector salaries, which now greatly out-strip those salaries of equivalent positions in the private sector. This was not the case in Costa Rica ten years ago, but changed during the second administration of Oscar Arias. Some salaries of upper level public sector officials and the pensions that they receive on retirement, greatly exceed those of similar officials in the public sectors of the U.S. and Canada. This does not make sense in a Country such as Costa Rica, which is far less wealthy.