Islanders Asked For Ideas On Saving States Money

People have three weeks to suggest ways that the States can save as much as £16M each year.

The idea comes from a savings sub committee formed after the February tax debate, when deputies rejected Policy and Resources plans for a goods and services tax, coupled with more generous tax allowances, designed to bring millions of pounds into government.

Instead, P&R says it now faces a significant public sector shortfall of as much as £100M a year by 2040.

Deputies, civil servants and States committees are being asked for their views on how savings of up to £16M a year can be made by 2028.

Now, that's being opened up to everyone in Guernsey.

It'll be in the form of a short online survey, beginning on Monday (26 June) and ending on 14 July. People will be asked for written ideas, in no more than 500 words, on how the States can: 

• Generate more money
• Change services to save money
• Restrict access to some services to save money

Deputy Dave Mahoney chairs the savings sub committee and says it's a unique exercise:

“This is the first time we’ve cast such a wide net. I’m hoping that overall we get a good insight into how the community wants us to tackle this very significant challenge.

Even if you wouldn’t ordinarily share your views, I’d encourage you to take this unique opportunity to bring ideas to the table.”

Deputy Sasha Kazantseva-Miller is a member of the sub committee, and says many people got in touch with deputies during the tax debate with ideas for saving money:

"We want to give everyone in the community a chance early on in this process to put forward any suggestions they believe would genuinely reduce costs.

We hope that this different approach will demonstrate our commitment that no idea will be left off the table. But it's also an exercise we need to tackle quickly, and so we are asking people to get their responses in by the 14 July."

You can go online to complete the survey or post your suggestions to Frossard House.