Green Family “Delighted” To Move Forward
Following the approval of the Fairmont Hamilton Hotels Concession Order in the Senate yesterday [July 17], the Green family thanked the Government and Opposition for unanimously passing the bill, saying that the project would not be possible without the appropriate tax concessions.
The Green family, who are Bermudian, purchased the Fairmont Hamilton Princess in 2012 and plan to spend from $50 million to $70 million in major renovations designed to enhance the property.
The original order that was passed offered concessions substantially lower than the Green family had anticipated, and on Friday [July 12] various Opposition MPs indicated that work had temporarily stopped at the Fairmont Hamilton Princess and Sonesta due to it.
The Government brought the bill back to the House to increase the concessions, which passed on Friday, and then subsequently passed in the Senate yesterday.
Speaking on Friday, Shadow Finance Minister David Burt asked “how do you make an $11 million dollar mistake” and said the House deserves an explanation, and said “it is not good enough for the workers who were taken off the job site as the Government messed up.”
Tourism Minister Shawn Crockwell speaking on Friday [July 12] about the matter:
Speaking after the corrected bill passed in the Senate yesterday, the Green family said: ““We would like to thank both the Government and Opposition for unanimously passing the Hotels Concession [Fairmont Hamilton] Order 2013 and we are delighted to be moving forward with the renovations project at The Fairmont Hamilton Princess.
“We wish to emphasise that a project of this size would not be possible without the appropriate tax concessions as the financing of the project was contingent on getting these concessions.
“We understand that there was a miscommunication with regard to the terms of the original Hotel Concessions Order but we were pleased with the speed and professional manner in which Minister Crockwell and his team dealt with rectifying this situation. By dealing with the situation quickly, we are now able to get the necessary approvals in place to start construction later this year during the hotel’s low season.
Shadow Tourism Minister Wayne Furbert speaking on Friday [July 12] about the matter:
The Green family continued, “The Hotel Occupancy Tax is usually earmarked by the Government specifically for marketing Bermuda and the bulk of the tax breaks will come from this. A large portion of this concession will be spent on marketing the redeveloped Hamilton Princess Hotel through international campaigns that will raise the profile of Bermuda as both a destination for tourists as well as business travellers. The remainder of the tax breaks will be spent on training Bermudians and local entertainment.
“We are excited about the job opportunities that the renovations project will create. By November 2013, there will be over 120 people working on the hotel site, the majority of whom will be Bermudian. In addition to this, it is our plan to create more permanent job opportunities once the marina has been constructed and the new restaurant is operational,” concluded the Greens.
The upgrades at the Fairmont Hamilton Princess are set to include an infinity pool, private cabanas, new hot tub, renovation of the 69 guestrooms/suites, new furniture, new Gazebo-style bar & grill, development of a new 66 berth marina, upgrades to the hotel’s mechanical & electrical infrastructure, and much more.
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The Green family purchase and upgrade of Hamilton Princess is obviously good news for Bermuda. The question about the concession is not the $14m but how much did the Princess originally pay in taxes (before it was bought by the Green family) that government will not now receive?
For example if they paid $2m per year, the loss to government over 5 years will be $10m. Where will government get the lost money from?
by cutting more civil servants of course!
By cutting more……what has been cut ?
Rick, Check the facts. Civil service has been shrinking since 2010.
You OBA people need to come with better grips with FACTS.
Not by cuts. But by attrition. So nothing has been cut.
And who grew the civil service to unsustainable levels?
Those are the FACTS.
Her are the fact that I came to grips with after the PLP reign!
1) The Civil service numbers doubled under the PLP, but is any government department more efficient today? – NO!
2) Is any government department, or is life in general better off after the PLP – 14 years? – Let me check Crime, Employment, Labour Relations, Health Care, Education, Public Transportation, Drug Use, Government Debt, Housing, Tourism – the answer to all of these is NO! FACT!
Stop defending the PLP, they had good intentions in the early years, but nobody can deny , not even staunch PLP supporters, it was a disaster soon afterwards, Lets just stop with the BS an work together.
WE NEED A GOOD, SMART, EFFICIENT AND TRUSTWORTHY GOVERNMENT THAT CAN GET THINGS DONE AS WELL AS A GREAT OPPOSITION. WITHOUT THAT WE WILL KEEP DYING A SLOW DEATH! I PERSONALLY COULDN’T CARE LESS WHAT SIDE THEY ARE ON – OBA, PLP, UBP, NFL, CBS, PICK THE INITIALS I DON’T CARE.
If i recall you have your own cutting to do with the gang that’s been taking over you’re establishment Rick Olson. Try to follow the government’s lead and clean up the BEach
Lost taxes will come from;
Primary:
Payroll tax from construction workers that are now employed
Duty for construction materials that are imported
Secondary:
Employees have more income which leads to increased purchasing, and the taxes that come from that trickling through the economy. (Payroll tax from service providers, duty for materials for service providers, etc etc)
Any project like this where you can get an investment and have it flow through the economy multiplies the tax that the government gets.
Multiplier effect.
@Curious 11:27 am
The $14m savings will not come from import duty and payroll tax.
1 – the concession allows for duty free import of goods.
2 – in order to recoup the $14m in payroll tax, the total spent on the labout costs of renovation would have to be approximately $255m. My estimation is based on only employees paying payroll tax of 5.5% since the hotel does not have to pay any payroll taxes based on the concession ($255m x 5.5% = $14m concession.
I do not oppose the concession but the voiting public should be given more informaiton about these concessions to better understand the benefits to Bermuda. I think there will be benefit to Bermuda if employment at the hotel increases and those employees are able to earn money and spend in the local economy and visitors do likewise. Again, these concessions should come with more supporting information.
I don’t believe there is, or should be, a plan to ‘make up’ the $14m concession in taxes elsewhere. This tax break was a concession to help create conditions where it makes sense for the $70m in renos to go ahead. That will create significant employment and economic activity during the course of the renos, and once it’s done it will help our tourism product of course, but it’s not designed to neatly recoup the $14m.
This is plutocracy at its finest, and now we see the true face of the UBP, they will say Its a recession we need the jobs!!!, but what is the cause of a recession? They will say IT had to be done!!, they wont say how much profit they will make after the “recession” is reversed or how much wealth these Plutocrats already own. This is what happens when the oligarchy gains political power the wealth of the country accelerates and entrenches at the top. One thing we do know is the Gov is out 14m of tax money to the wealthy but loaned 800m in the name of the poor.
The PLP voted unanimously in favor of these additional tax breaks (and actually admonished them for not getting it right the first time) and during their reign issued many concessions to the hotel industry.
What say you about that?
Even worse their all in collusion we need a new party!
The price of 120 private sector jobs. And future hotel jobs outside of the tax payer suckling civil service. We have to work towards getting hotels and viable tourism projects. The hotel tourist is worth 10+ cruise passengers in terms of jobs, tax revenue and general expenditure on the Island. I would say support whomever is willing to build and market Bermuda’s hotels to the fullest.
Small minds will say it is the rich doing favours for each other but we are in a recession because of a socialist mentality of over paying and over employment of the civil service. If we could pay our bills then things would be different. But thanks to the short sighted incompetence of the PLP, we are in a rut big time. And if we do not attract new investment, the poor will continue to suffer. Just remember the private sector pays the way for the Public sector and we have for too long bitten that hand. 70% of current Government revenues go to the civil service, would you rather 11m go to the wasteful civil service or to marketing efforts and employment in the tourism industry?
Speaking on Friday, Shadow Finance Minister David Burt asked “how do you make an $11 million dollar mistake”
The irony of this statement cannot be overstated.
That’s rich coming from the opposition.
Global hue
BHC
The Pier in Dockyard
The New Govt Building
…so on and so forth.
just be glad someone is investing in bermuda.
absolutly agree with you. We are blessed that the Greene family wanted to invest so much money in the Island. A silly comment that the rich get richer, of course they do because they have the money to invest in the first place, but instead of the negative how about the positive that this will bring to Bemruda. OPen your eys for once and all please keep the negative comments in your closed mouth.
Theres to many civil servants now from when the PLP were in power. Here comes the cuts
now youll have to work for your pay check, instead of having ten guys biulding 2 frrt of wall there will be 2. which is how it should be.
Thanks to the Greens for bieliving in Bermuda without them, who knows were we would be.
We would be perfectly fine. We dont need him. All we are doing is making him more rich..then we complain about why we dont have nothing. We aint got nothing because we give him everything! Im a no rascist whatsoever however i believe blacks have the short hand of the stick because we dont stick together like white people..WAKE UP BLACK BERMUDA.!!!!!!!!!!What we as black bermudians need to do is support one another…Build our own Empires..Open our own business..Shop @ our peoples stores. Boycott Buzz Yes i said it. Boycott them. for example..You dont see the white man coming round Middletown to eat Fish n Tings and get some good food. So why should we go in his establishment to eat some process trash that cleary isnt in your budget?
Yep. Go Greens go. Show us what your made of and make that hotel an outrageous success.
@Curious 11:27 am
The $14m savings will not come from import duty and payroll tax.
1 – the concession allows for duty free import of goods.
2 – in order to recoup the $14m in payroll tax, the total spent on the labout costs of renovation would have to be approximately $255m. My estimation is based on only employees paying payroll tax of 5.5% since the hotel does not have to pay any payroll taxes based on the concession ($255m x 5.5% = $14m concession.
I do not oppose the concession but the voiting public should be given more informaiton about these concessions to better understand the benefits to Bermuda. I think there will be benefit to Bermuda if employment at the hotel increases and those employees are able to earn money and spend in the local economy and visitors do likewise. Again, these concessions should come with more supporting information.
If you can not see what the Green’s are doing, I feel sorry for YOU
TO National Capitalist Party;
How much investments did the P.L.P. Government bring the Island in the last 5 years?
How many jobs were created in the last 5 years?
How many Hotels were ACTUALLY created in the last 5 years (not just promised)?
When the more than 2,000 expats left the Island, had “Bermies” been trained to fill those jobs?
Why not head over to one of the many Socialist countries in the world and plant your flag there.
We here back home will pump out the water, repair our ship and sails, and the “Great Ship Bermuda” WILL RISE LIKE THE PHOENIX SHE IS AND TAKE HER PLACE OUT FRONT
Hire Bermudians,for all those concessions,that is the least you can do.
im poor and I get no breaks at all. I cant find a job and my phonebills killin me tryin to find one. im voting against gambling until poor people get a break too