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The Budget Speech - 17th REC; Minister of Finance- The Two Exalted Kingdoms
Topic Started: Aug 3 2014, 07:54 AM (145 Views)
The Exalted Kingdoms
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The Budget Speech - 17th REC

Budget Speech – 17th REC
House of Nobles – The Commonwealth of Crowns
Minister of Finance – Mr Jean Hesselborn, The Two Exalted Kingdoms

*Jean Hesselborn, Minister of Finance of the CoC giving his budget speech*

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After adjusting the file of papers that lay in front on him on the podium, a confident looking Jean begins with his speech.

Your Majesties, Your Royal Highnesses, Your Excellencies, Honourable members of the Regional Executive Council and Honourable Ministers, Ladies and Gentlemen, It is one of the greatest honours for me to be standing here, where the likes of Mr Kornelis Roodbeen, our Chancellor once stood and delivered his budget speech. We have indeed come a long way since the first financial budget given by the First Minister of Finance, Mr Matthews.

The last term was fraught with challenges, the Ministry of Finance was in shambles due to inefficiencies of previous ministers and unfortunately a period of economic recession ensued.This was a driving factor, why the then Minister Roodbeen had to introduce a series of hard but necessary Budget Cuts and countless equally necessary reforms to the laws of our great region. The people of each of our nations experienced some rather unpleasant times, wars were won and lost, nations ceased to exist, the resolve of our people tested.

Today, evidently things are much different. Many economies have recovered, I can proudly say we now stand tall and our resolve is undiminished. The hard choices we made a while back have undoubtedly paid off. The evidence for this can be seen in the fact that we have received four times as much as we did in the first tax season! Obviously a tremendous achievement. The credit for which goes to the hard working citizens of this great region. Make no mistake honourable members, this today is because of them. Had the people given up hope, we would not have been standing here.

Now, enough of this, time to get to down to business. Honourable members, I now present to you, The Third official budget for the 17th REC.

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Total Funds Available: $459,072,000
Proportion of Funds used: 92%

The Budget
The Regional Executive Council & The House of Nobles

The Regional Executive Council

-Administration: $5,000,000
-Communication: $2,000,000
-Chancellor: $50,000
-Secretary-General: $50,000
-Prosecutor-General: $50,000
-Speaker: $50,000

The House of Nobles

-Administration: $5,000,000
-Communications: $2,000,000
-Legislative Deliberations: $ 10,000,000
-Chancellor's Questions: $ 5,000,000
-Council of Editors: $ 5,000,000

Total Funds allocated: $34,200,000
Ministry of Foreign Affairs

-Minister of Foreign Affairs: $20,000
-Administration: $ 5,000,000
-Communications: $ 2,000,000
-Embassy Maintainance: $ 10,000,000
-Embassy Operations: $ 10,000,000
-Interregional Development & Communications: $5,000,000

The United Regions Initiative

-Ambassador and Ambassadorial Communications: $10,000,000

Colonial Assets Management

-Territories: $20,000,000
-Dependencies: $50,000,000
-Dominions: $1,000,000

Total Funds allocated: $113,020,000
The Judiciary

-Administration: $ 5,000,000
-Communications: $ 2,000,000
-Court Proceedings: $ 15,000,000
-Fact Checking: $ 2,000,000
-Chief Justice & Justices: $100,000
-Emergency Sessions: $ 2,000,000

Total Funds allocated: $26,100,000
Ministry of Culture

-Minister of Culture: $20,000
-Deputy Minister of Culture: $15,000
-Administration: $ 5,000,000
-Communications: $ 2,000,000
-Event Management: $ 20,000,000
-War Memorials: $ 2,000,000

Total Funds allocated: $29,035,000
Ministry of The Interior

-Minister of The Interior: $20,000
-Administration: $ 5,000,000
-Communications: $ 2,000,000
-RMB Decorum Regulation: $ 5,000,000


Election Expenses

-Election Monitoring: $ 5,000,000
-Polling Expenses: $ 10,000,000
-Results Compilation: $ 2,000,000
-Declaration of Results: $ 5,000,000

Total Funds allocated: $34,020,000
Ministry of Finance

-Minister of Finance: $20,000
-Administration: $5,000,000
-Communications: $2,000,000
-Commonwealth Revenue Services: $1,000,000
-Incentives and Market Stimulus Schemes: $30,000,000

The Disaster Management Agency [Int. Min.]

-Administration: $5,000,000
-Research and Analysis: $ 5,000,000
-Seismology Department: $ 2,500,000
-Meteorological Department:$ 2,500,000
-Aid and Relief: $20,000,000

Total Funds allocated: $73,020,000
Defense

-The High Commander: $50,000
-Administration: $ 5,000,000
-Communications: $ 2,000,000
-Intelligence Gathering: $ 20,000,000
-Military Maintenance & Upgrades: $ 25,000,000

Operation Lightning Strike

-Covert Operations: $ 5,000,000
-Military Mobilisation: $ 10,000,000
-Operation Expenses: $ 10,000,000

Total Funds allocated: $77,050,000
The Cartography Department and Crowns University

The Cartography Department

-The Cartographer: $15,000
-Research & Administrations : $7,000,000
-Topographical Surveys: $ 5,000,000
-Publications of Regional Maps: $ 5,000,000

The Crowns University

-Administration: $2,000,000
-Commonwealth Law School: $10,000,000
-Research and Publications: $10,000,000

Total Funds allocated: $39,015,000


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Now to take a look at the expenditure for each department. But before that, an explanation on a certain terms before I start in earnest. To begin with, administrative costs; various conflicts as well as internal and external pressures coupled with the new way we are now hiring people mean that it is now much more expensive to hire people for administrative work such as clerical work etc. To counter this, more money has been allotted. Same goes for Communication, we are currently in the process of upgrading all equipment across all departments, obviously this costs money, hence the higher expenditure.

With a precursory glance, some of you might be concerned at the seemingly exorbitant amounts of money to certain departments, notably the Ministry of Foreign Affairs but I assure you, this budget has been prepared with proper thought and consultation with everyone who needed to be consulted with.

Now to go onto the REC and House of Nobles.
You will notice, that compared to previous budgets, money has been allotted to each voting member of the REC. One could ask why the High Commander has been discriminated against but the answer would that there is no discrimination, he is simply being paid from the funds allotted to the Department of Defense. This, let me assure you has not happened cause we are swimming in money, on the contrary it is to make sure that no Councillor is ever limited by his ability to pay for services. Obviously restrictions have been placed on this money, it is to be used only for official purposes.
As for the House of Nobles, One of the many ways my party leader and our Chancellor wanted to make the government more transparent where it mattered was the implementation of the Chancellor's Question. This is the reason, money has been allocated to it specifically. Further we are now funding the Council of Editors who perform a very important function and hence needed to be funded adequately.

Onto the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, arguably the department with the highest funds but this can be rather deceptive. A huge chunk of the money allotted will be used in "Colonial Assets Managements". Money has be designated keeping in mind that Dominions are self governing while territories are not.
We are in a time for increasing inter regional activity, the united regions initiative needs to be re vitalised, embassies are being shut down, new ones are being constructed and at the same time, existing ones need to be maintained. Security funding has also gone up to ensure our embassy staff are protected at all times.

The Judiciary has received an almost four fold rise in funding. This will hopefully translate into faster but highly accurate rulings. As with Councillors, allowances have been allotted to the Chief Justice and his justices. It has been left to the discretion of the Chief Justice as to how this will be divided but we advise a 50-25-25 split.

For the Ministry of Culture, most of the allocations are self explanatory. The Minister of Culture, as with all other ministers, has received and allowance and since a deputy has been appointed so has he received one. As for the funding for a war memorial, we have received countless petitions from an even larger number of people asking for a Commonwealth Wide War Memorial. I personally feel that al though we are in a phase of renewal we must not forget our glorious dead. Soldiers who fought for what they believed in as well as innocent civilians caught in cross fire. From Aid workers to Diplomats, everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and hence I have allocated money for a war memorial to be constructed right here in Crowns City.

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One of the many proposed designs for the war memorial


As for the Ministry of the Interior, the Minister receives an allowance. Further, noting that one of the main aspects of his job is to maintain general decorum, funds have been allocated for that.
Seeing as how Elections are where the Minister of the Interior is most needed, separate funds have been allocated. Stability is a key factor that determines a regions success, and in the Commonwealth of Crowns that is achieved through timely, free and fair elections. It is with this in mind, has greater funding been allotted to the Ministry of the Interior. The CDMA has also been allotted more money though this has been listed under the Ministry of Finance which shall be releasing the funds as mandated by the Head of the CDMA.

Coming to the Finance Ministry, It has definitely been one of my priorities to help people at the grass roots level set up businesses. It has been noted by many economists that small scale businesses are able to put a maximum number of people into work for the amount of investment they require, so naturally they will be the core focus of my incentive programs. That is not to say I have forgotten the big companies.
The CDMA has also seen the amount of money it receives increase substantially. New funding to a Seismology and Meteorology departments means that we should be able to predict potential disasters much earlier mitigating and reducing the need for aid. However, should the inevitable happen, the CDMA has been adequately funded to ensure the nation affected by the disaster can be assisted in a most efficient manner. Money has been set aside for analysis to help ensure that future operations can be made more efficient and also to prevent mistakes that may have happened in the past.

Penultimately we now reach the Department of Defence. A strong Military is essential for the safety of our region. It is with this in mind I have allotted $25,000,000 for procurement of better equipment as well as regular maintenance and upgrades for existing military equipment. But obviously that is not enough. The saying Prevention is better than cure applies to Military Strategy too and hence 20,000,000 has been assigned for covert operations. Further money has been set aside for Operation Lightning Strike, obviously I cannot go into details about this but rest assured, the money has been set aside in a way that would ensure our military operates at peak efficiency.

Finally, The Department of Cartography receives a boost in funding. In consultation with the department, funding has been set aside for Topographical surveys and Publications specifically.

Now to what I think is one of the most important aspects of my Budget, the Crowns University.

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Education has always been key to anyone's success. With the recent revitalisation in Crowns University, it is only appropriate that funding goes up. The Commonwealth Law school has particularly attracted my attention and it serves to fill a gaping hole in Commonwealth Law studies. Further to encourage more academic activity, funding for research, publications and analysis has been substantially increased. It is often said an institution is only as good as its graduates and I do hope that they are able to make a name for themselves.

Also, for those concerned for the remaining 8 percent, I will take this moment to assure you there has been absolutely no embezzlement, A chuckling Jean regains composure and adds, In fact, the money will be released in the future and has been held in reserve in case any department is in need of more money.

And now members, I thank all of you for sitting through my extremely long and dreary speech and would actually like to take this time to acknowledge the work of the Representative from Narnifrey.
As I conclude this speech I thank everyone who collaborated and helped make this gargantuan task possible.
This hereby concludes the Budget Speech for the 17th REC.

With this, Minister Hesselborn collects his papers and leaves
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Folms
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Folms
*Kornelis Roodbeen applauds proudly*
Extremely proud to see this budget, much more detailed than mine! My congratulations to Minister Hesselborn for producing this fantastic budget in such a short space of time. This is a good sign for the continuity of this region's financial administration!
Folms (Formerly The Kingdom of Torvalyn)

PRESS

Editor-In-Chief of The Commonwealth Crab
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