The St. Maarten Carnival Development Foundation (SCDF) has solely focused on regulating its financials for the past month and has recently notified all stakeholders of progress made.
Former SCDF President Erno Labega, who has been officially re-appointed to the board of the (SCDF) has been tasked by the board to handle the financial aspects. He has also recently called persons who the SCDF is still indebted to (prizes or otherwise) to apprise them of the situation and assure that the foundation is diligently working.
"The response that we’ve gotten from them is a very understanding one. We wanted them to know that we have been working on this since Carnival concluded. We have been meeting every week to address outstanding issues so that we can go into Carnival 2011 more financially sound than we are now," Labega said.
On behalf of the SCDF, Labega has scheduled a meeting with the head of the Finance Department Bas Roorda for this week to discuss the outstanding government subsidies from 2009 and 2010 as well as SCDF’s obligations in order for government to release those funds. A meeting is also scheduled with a local financial firm this week.
Labega, along with another former SCDF President Michael Granger, has also been tasked with public relations and finalizing the structure and persons who will form SCDF’s Advisory Council. "Persons have been identified and have expressed their commitment. After our meetings this week regarding the financials, we will finalize the advisory group," Labega concluded.