SINT MAARTEN/WASHINGTON, D.C. — This week, representatives from the American Resort Development Association (ARDA) and the American Resort Development Association Resort Owners’ Coalition (ARDA-ROC) will travel to St. Maarten to meet with key government and private stakeholders and lend their support to the passage of comprehensive timeshare legislation currently being considered by the St. Maarten Parliament.

With timeshare being one of the fastest growing sectors of global hospitality, and the Caribbean a top travel destination of choice among U.S. travelers, it is critical that the proper laws and regulations are in place for timeshare to expand its footprint responsibly while protecting everyone’s best interest—from owner to developer to government.

While some timeshare consumer protection legislation exists today in St. Maarten, it does not go far enough to protect the rights of timeshare owners. In 2011, the Parliament of St. Maarten unanimously adopted the motion to draft this legislation. For several years, ARDA and ARDA-ROC have actively supported the St. Maarten Timeshare Association’s (SMTA) pursuit of timeshare legislation on the island that would balance the needs of timeshare developers and owners. In fact, ARDA-ROC funded the hiring of Holland-based Paulussen Advocaten NV’s renowned law professor Roel Mertens to draft the bankruptcy protection portion of the legislation currently being considered.

When passed, the bill will assist St. Maarten in realizing significant benefits to the timeshare industry and its owners by ensuring stronger consumer protections are in place across the board. It will also ensure the proper checks and balances are in place to regulate the industry and ensure compliance with the law.

"Passing this law will ensure the protection of both consumers and developers, while enabling St. Maarten to further realize the valuable economic benefits that the vacation ownership industry provides,” said Ken McKelvey, ARDA-ROC Chairman.

The American Resort Development Association (ARDA) is the Washington D.C.-based professional association representing the vacation ownership and resort development industries. Established in 1969, ARDA today has almost 1,000 members ranging from privately held firms to publicly traded companies and international corporations with expertise in shared ownership interests in leisure real estate. For more information, visit www.arda.org or ARDA’s consumer website at www.VacationBetter.org.

The ARDA Resort Owners’ Coalition (ARDA-ROC) is a non-profit program sponsored by the American Resort Development Association, dedicated to preserving, protecting, and enhancing vacation ownership. ARDA-ROC is an alliance of owners, developers, and managers who are committed to advocating for local, state, and federal policies that enable the vacation ownership industry to thrive. For more information, visit http://www.ardaroc.org.

POND ISLAND, FESTIVAL VILLAGE - Think about the soca sounds of Shadowman, King Vers and Red Eye Crew. Now imagine them and others competing in a real Groovy and Power Soca competition.

Promoter Grisha Marten of Montage N.V. will embark on a Soca concert event that she and producer Omari Ferrari are convinced will help elevate St. Maarten’s Soca artists in the region. Montage will host the “Soca Rumble – Battle of the Best” event on Saturday, April 25 in Carnival Village as part of Carnival 2015.

The intention of the Soca Rumble will be exactly as the name suggests: a rumble between the top Soca singers in St. Maarten who will compete in what is known as a Groovy and Power Soca competitions on one night. Each of these competitions carries a US $10,000 prize.

“We have some impressive and talented Soca singers on St. Maarten who produce great songs every Carnival. We want to put these artists in competition and make this an annual event to promote our own,” Marten said.

“We will be calling on the support of all DJ’s and radio stations to play the songs that we've selected for the competition after March 13. Our next step is to talk to the Minister of Tourism to then take the lead after the show in pushing the winner(s) regionally, to perform in Trinidad and other places,” she added.

A meeting with some prospective participants has already been held with some signing up to participate on the spot. The Power Soca is determined by songs measuring 136 and over beats per minute (bpm). The Groovy Soca is determined by songs measuring 80-135 beats per minute (bpm).

A contestant can enter the competition as a solo act, duet, group or band and can enter in both categories with a maximum of two (2) songs in the Power Soca Category and a maximum of two (2) songs in the Groovy Soca category. Songs must be submitted on CD by Friday March 13, 2015.

At the preliminary stage, the submission of properly produced songs will screened by a five member panel of qualified judges. Headed by a chief judge that has the responsibility to manage and guide the other judges. The approved selected songs will be played on all participating radio stations, 3-5 times daily starting March 16- April 25, 2015.

Interested artists can contact Grisha Marten by cell 520-6938 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

PHILIPSBURG - The January 31 deadline for adopting the 2015 budget was met by Sint Maarten. The Cft concludes, however, that not all recommendations on the draft budget have been taken into account.

The budgeted income ceiling is, at ANG 445 million, higher than the recommended level of ANG 426 million, the long-pending payment arrears to SZV and APS are not yet settled and the deficits of past years have not been compensated for.

The Cft has held constructive discussions with the government how to resolve these remaining issues.

The Board of Financial Supervision (Cft) visited Sint Maarten from February 23^rd to February 24^th, which was its first visit to the Gumbs administration. Meetings were held with the Governor, the vice Prime Minister, the minister of Finance, the Council of Ministers and the Financial Committee of Parliament.

Main topics of discussion were the outcome of the 2014 budget and the follow up of the recommendations of the Cft on the draft 2015 budget. The Sint Maarten Government has up to March 2^nd to demonstrate to the Cft that the remaining issues in the 2015 budget will be dealt with in a timely and orderly manner and that the budget is in line with the stipulations of the Kingdom Law of Financial Supervision.

2014 budget

The government has informed the Cft that according to preliminary data government revenues in 2014 amounted to ANG 430 million. The budget will show a moderate deficit in the order of ANG 8 million. The Cft is awaiting the final figures for further analysis.

2015 budget

The 2015 budget was adopted by Parliament and signed off by the Governor late January, in time for the postponed deadline of January 31. The Cft has raised three issues concerning the budget.

First, the income ceiling is set at a level of ANG 445 million, which is higher than the results of prior years. Second, payment arrears of approximately ANG 200 million to mainly SZV and APS have not been settled yet contrary to earlier commitments. The chairman of the Cft reiterated his concern about this unresolved issue. Third, deficits since 10-10-10 have accumulated to a total of approximately ANG 55 million which need to be compensated.

The Cft has sent its advice on the adopted budget 2015 to the minister of Finance who now has up to March 2^nd to respond to the recommendations of the Cft.

Possible solutions were discussed during the meetings with Government. Supporting documentation on the expected increase in revenues of ANG 15 million will be provided by the Government.

The Cft will monitor the revenue realization over the first four months of 2015 to determine whether this increase is justified. As to the payment arrears with SZV and APS, it was agreed that these will be settled before the end of May. The Cft will in its next visit in June review the outcomes and discuss the compensation of the prior year deficits.

Multi annual approach

Sint Maarten is preparing a multi annual vision document to stimulate the economy, which would enable Sint Maarten to increase revenues and realize a budget surplus as of 2016 to compensate for the prior year deficits.

This document consists of four pillars, i.e. an economic development program, reorganization of the tax authority, redesigning the tax legislation and intensifying the current program of increasing income and decreasing expenditures.

The Cft applauds this multi annual approach. It has advised Government to involve an external independent authority to review the plans and provide an expert seal of approval. This would also increase public confidence and should attract private investors, since Government cannot execute this plan on its own. (Cft) 

PHILIPSBURG - The St. Maarten LIONS Club donated $300 to Alyzee Groeneveldt. Alyzee, a 12-year old student of the St. Maarten Dance Theatre, was chosen as one of 22 of the school’s dancers between the ages of 9 and 30 to attend a one-week dance festival in Los Angeles, California, along with dance students hailing from the US and over 45 countries from around the world.

The Dance Excellence Festival offers a unique opportunity for young dancers to represent their countries in classes, workshops, and at international performance boards, while gathering top professionals and master teachers from the arts and entertainment industry to share their time and expertise with the participants.

Although the emphasis will be on dance, Dance Excellence Festival integrates all of the other areas of performance, such as voice, acting, auditioning, television, etc.

The club’s donation will go towards her airfare to Los Angeles at the end of March until beginning of April of this year. (St. Maarten Lions Club)