Parliament of Sint Maarten
Budget 2027

Justice

Ministry · Budget 2027

DraftBefore Parliament

Justice

JUSJustitie

The Ministry of Justice pays for the police, the prison and remand centre, immigration and border protection, customs and the national detectives, and funds Sint Maarten's part of the Coast Guard, the courts and the prosecution offices. Its draft 2027 budget is Cg 113.8 million, almost the same as in 2026, and about 72% of it pays staff.

Ms. Nathalie M. Tackling

Ms. Nathalie M. Tackling

Minister of Justice

2027 spendingCg 113.8MDay-to-day running costs in the draft
Share of all spending17.2%of the Cg 662.2M the draft spends in total
Own revenueCg 24.8MIncome the budget books to this ministry
Posts filled54%590 of 1,095 posts

Explore this ministry

Spending

Day-to-day spending

What it spends it on

The 2027 draft gives this ministry Cg 113.8M for its day-to-day running, salaries, rent, supplies, subsidies and the like. That is about the same as the approved 2026 budget. Investments in buildings and equipment are counted separately, further down.
  • Personnel costsCg 81.8M72%
  • Subsidies & transfersCg 18.7M16%
  • Other operating costsCg 10.1M9%
  • Accommodation & transportCg 2.7M2%
  • Social provisionsCg 0.5M0%

By type of cost, million Cg

Justice: spending by type of cost, approved 2026 budget and 2027 draft, in million Cg
Type of cost20262027
Personnel costsCg 81.8MCg 81.8M
Subsidies & transfersCg 18.7MCg 18.7M
Other operating costsCg 10.1MCg 10.1M
Accommodation & transportCg 2.7MCg 2.7M
Social provisionsCg 0.5MCg 0.5M
TotalCg 113.8MCg 113.8M

Rows may not add up to the total exactly because each is rounded.

Policy plans

Plans

Plans for 2027

The mission, as the budget describes it

Working with the relevant ministries and departments, the Ministry of Justice will focus on strengthening the rule of law, improving detention conditions, modernising legislation, combating subversive crime (organised crime that undermines society and government) and improving safety, security and law enforcement in Sint Maarten. The law-enforcement chain is being recalibrated, with an emphasis on consistent enforcement of the law, stronger accountability and steadily growing public trust in the justice system.

  1. Plan 1: Strengthening international cooperation with strategic partners

    Work with the French side of the island (Saint Martin) and other international partners against cross-border crime through mutual legal assistance, better information exchange, timely extradition, joint enforcement actions and training. The ministry links this to anti-money-laundering compliance, warning that failing international standards could lead to 'blacklisting' or banking restrictions. Most of the Cg 21.3 million listed under this objective (about Cg 19.6 million) is standing yearly money for the Coast Guard contribution, the Office of the Attorney General, the Public Prosecution Service, the Joint Court of Justice, the Law Enforcement Council and the SBIR justice software, not new programmes.

  2. Plan 2: Shared responsibility for safety and justice

    Keep young people out of the justice system and protect vulnerable children, working with the education (ECYS) and health and social (VSOA) ministries and community organisations: child-protection and positive-parenting programmes, foster care, victim support and alternatives for young offenders such as HALT. The ministry says justice cannot be achieved through law enforcement alone.

  3. Plan 3: Building a fairer and more effective justice system

    Make the ministry itself work better: formally settle every employee's job position and back pay, fill critical posts, introduce KPIs and performance contracts for heads of service, improve internal oversight and connect the justice chain's IT systems. The Governing Programme theme stresses strategic planning, workforce development and financial autonomy.

  4. Plan 4: Strengthening law enforcement and crime prevention

    Stronger policing and crime prevention: police training, traffic enforcement, a crime-prevention strategy against money laundering, human trafficking, gun violence and fraud, forensic tools, specialised cybercrime and financial-crime units, and more oversight of law-enforcement agencies. The ministry names prevention of and compliance on financial crime (the Financial Intelligence Unit, FIU) as an important point of attention.

  5. Plan 5: Modernisation of border security, customs and immigration

    Modernise border control, customs and immigration together with Dutch and French partners: digital and biometric traveller processing, a National Targeting Center to screen passenger lists before arrival, repairs to the Foreigner Detention Centre, updated immigration law, an automated customs system (ASYCUDA) and a permanent Customs headquarters. The ministry says strong border management protects national security and supports economic growth.

  6. Plan 6: Prison reform & reducing recidivism

    Finish rebuilding the Point Blanche prison and shift towards rehabilitation: education, vocational training, mental-health and addiction care, forensic psychiatric care through cooperation within the Kingdom, and alternatives to prison such as community service and electronic monitoring. The ministry says the prison faces overcrowding, high operating costs and too few rehabilitation programmes, which contribute to reoffending.

Programmes & delivery

Programmes

Programmes and spending

The budget lists 41 programmes for this ministry, each tied to one of the plans above. Amounts are for 2027, where the ministry printed one. Programmes marked Dutch-funded are paid from Dutch money, the Country Package, the Temporary Work Organisation (TWO) or the Trust Fund, not from local taxes.

Showing 12 of 41 programmes.

  • Implementation of the Franco-Dutch Treaty

    Cg 15k
    Plan 1
    Intended result

    An active steering group and operational working group; multidisciplinary surveillance and officer duty at strategic border locations; information exchange; training in document examination and exchange of samples.

  • Fitting out the Opal Building, Cole Bay, to house joint coordination (the police 'Public Safety Center')

    Cg 50k
    Plan 1
    Intended result

    A fully staffed, operational office where French and Dutch-side teams work together, with more joint investigations, better coordination, more law-enforcement presence and faster response to incidents.

  • Cooperation with international partners and organisations: judicial four-party talks

    Cg 225k
    Plan 1
    Intended result

    Better-structured cooperation between justice-chain partners (concordance agreements).

  • Cooperation with international partners and organisations: Financial Intelligence Unit (MOT) and CFATF compliance

    Cg 450k
    Plan 1
    Intended result

    Meet the obligations of the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF); better financial-crime monitoring through data analysis; awareness campaigns to encourage reporting; more investigators for the FIU. Country Package measure B14 sets up a National AML/CFT-PF Committee (anti-money laundering and countering terrorist and proliferation financing) to correct the deficiencies found in the fourth-round CFATF evaluation.

  • Cooperation with international partners and organisations: line partly subsidised by the Dutch Interior Ministry (BZK), account 5310-435, first amount

    Cg 855k
    Plan 1Dutch-funded
    Intended result

    The table prints this amount against 'Subsidy BZK 5310-435 partially subsidised' but does not say which listed activity it pays for.

  • Cooperation with international partners and organisations: line partly subsidised by the Dutch Interior Ministry (BZK), account 5310-435, second amount

    Cg 100k
    Plan 1Dutch-funded
    Intended result

    Printed directly below the Cg 855k against the same BZK-subsidised account; the table does not say which listed activity it pays for.

  • Cooperation with international partners and organisations: border-control and anti-subversion protocols

    Not stated
    Plan 1
    Intended result

    Strengthening Border Control (VGT) protocol realised (EUR 1.5 million for Sint Maarten); improved detention capacity; a Border Intelligence Centre; multidisciplinary cooperation such as the ALPHA Team Maritime; the protocol on the administrative approach to subversive crime (EUR 1 million a year shared between Curaçao, Aruba and Sint Maarten); capacity-building against subversive crime. No separate guilder amount is printed for these items.

  • Cooperation with international partners and organisations: Dutch Caribbean Coast Guard (4% annual contribution)

    Cg 3.8M
    Plan 1
    Intended result

    Payment of Sint Maarten's 4% annual contribution under the Coast Guard protocol.

  • Cooperation with international partners and organisations: Office of the Attorney General (annual contribution)

    Cg 2.4M
    Plan 1
    Intended result

    Annual contribution. The amount equals the office's whole budget line, which also covers its own staff costs (shown as 2,370 in the department table).

  • Cooperation with international partners and organisations: Public Prosecution Service (OM)

    Cg 4.6M
    Plan 1
    Intended result

    Funding for the Office of the Public Prosecutor; the amount equals that office's whole budget line, including its staff costs.

  • Cooperation with international partners and organisations: Joint Court of Justice (annual contribution)

    Cg 6.4M
    Plan 1
    Intended result

    Annual payment of Sint Maarten's contribution to the Joint Court of Justice.

  • Cooperation with international partners and organisations: Law Enforcement Council (annual contribution)

    Cg 925k
    Plan 1
    Intended result

    Annual payment of the contribution. The same Cg 925k appears again as programme 7 under Objective 4; the numbers book has a single 925,000 line, so it should not be counted twice.

Changes

Since 2026

What changed and why

The lines that moved most since the approved 2026 budget, largest change first, with the ministry's explanation where it gives one; where it gives none, we say so. Lines with no 2026 amount printed come last.

  • Total net expenditure (after the Cg 1.6 million subsidy from the Dutch Interior Ministry, BZK)

    2026: Cg 110.2M2027: Cg 112.2M

    Not explained. The printed 2026 figure does not equal 2026 gross spending minus the BZK subsidy (113,814 - 1,600 = 112,214). The table prints the change as 0%, although the printed figures imply an increase of about 1.8%. The 2027 figure does follow from the table (113,770 - 1,600).

  • Gross salaries for vacancies (money for posts not yet filled)

    2026: Cg 4.0M2027: Cg 2.6M

    No reason is given for the decrease. The 2027 amount is the budget for recruiting staff into critical positions; Staat B shows it pays for 46 funded vacancies (Cg 2,590,423.74). The table prints the change as -45%, but the figures give about -35%.

  • Customs (cost centre 5350)

    2026: Cg 3.8M2027: Cg 3.7M

    The only department with a printed change (-1.5%). The memorandum gives no reason; the numbers book shows the whole decrease (Cg 55,757) is in Customs personnel costs.

  • Total gross expenditure, Ministry of Justice

    2026: Cg 113.8M2027: Cg 113.8M

    The ministry states there are 'no significant differences' between the approved 2026 budget and the draft 2027 budget (a fall of 44 thousand, or 0.04%). It gives no breakdown of differences.

  • Prison and Remand Centre (cost centre 5320)

    2026: Cg 15.7M2027: Cg 15.7M

    The ministry says the Remand Centre budget was increased by Cg 2.0 million for staff, paid for by cutting material costs by the same amount, because it agreed with the Netherlands that Sint Maarten does not have to cover the cost of detainees housed in the Netherlands and Curaçao until the new penitentiary is completed; the money is for the prison-guard vacancies recruited in 2026. In its reply to the Council of Advice, the government says a parliamentary amendment to the 2026 budget raised this cost centre's gross-salaries line by Cg 2,000,000 as a budget-neutral shift within the same cost centre, and that the amendments were processed in both the 2026 budget and the 2027 draft. That fits the numbers book, which shows the same prison gross salaries (Cg 10,767,261) in 2026 and 2027 and an almost unchanged total for the cost centre.

  • Gross salaries for current staff

    2026: not printed2027: Cg 66.3M

    No reason is given. The 2026 amount is printed incompletely as '65.00'; working back from the printed total of 81,808, it is about Cg 65.0 million. Total personnel costs go from 81,808 to 81,764.

Capital projects

Capital budget

Building and equipment

The capital budget is money for buildings, roads, vehicles and equipment, mostly paid for with borrowed money. It is separate from the day-to-day spending above. These are the projects the ministry lists for 2027, largest first.

The items listed here add up to Cg 10.9M, more than this ministry's capital chapter total of Cg 4.5M, so not every item is in the capital budget at the amount shown. The note under each item says where it is printed.

  • National Targeting Center (NTC) at Immigration, to screen passenger and crew lists before arrival

    Cg 3M

    Objective 5 capital table; then 4,000 (2028), 1,500 (2029) and 500 follow-up, matching the text's 'approximately Cg 9,000k' total. The 2026 budget planned the same amounts one year earlier (2026 budget, English edition, p.81). No financing source is stated; not in the numbers book's capital service ledger or project annex.

  • Police (KPSM): vehicles

    Cg 1.7M

    Numbers book capital service: Cg 1,673,700 (replacement of police cars under KPSM's multi-year mobility plan 1,512,000 plus car purchases 161,700); same as 2026. The numbers book's Justice capital service totals Cg 4,471,990 in 2027, the same as in 2026, and contains none of the memorandum's projects above.

  • Immigration (IBPS): ICT hardware and software

    Cg 1.7M

    Numbers book: Cg 1,655,223 = RADEX software, hardware, databases and licences 1,137,510 + ReG-Tech immigration application 441,000 + 30 computers 76,713; same as 2026. RADEX is not explained in the documents.

  • Screening Authority (BIBOB) and Center of Excellence against subversive crime (Administrative Approach to Subversion, BAO)

    Cg 1.5M

    Objective 1 capital table, 2027 column; then 750 (2028), 750 (2029) and 100 follow-up. The same project appears again in the Objective 3 capital table, whose columns are labelled 2026/2027/2028 (1,500 / 750 / 750); it is listed once here. No financing source is stated, and the project does not appear in the numbers book's capital service ledger or its project annex.

  • ASYCUDA automated customs system (UNCTAD)

    Cg 1M

    Objective 5 capital table; then 250 (2028), 150 (2029) and 100 follow-up (Cg 1.5 million in total). The 2026 budget planned the same amounts one year earlier (2026 budget, English edition, p.81). The numbers book's project annex lists the ASYCUDA software system for Customs with no amount in any year, and the Customs capital ledger has no lines.

  • National Reporting Centre against Human Trafficking and Human Smuggling

    Cg 550k

    Objective 1 capital table; then 100 (2028), 75 (2029) and 100 follow-up. No financing source is stated; not in the numbers book's capital service ledger or project annex.

  • Justice Backbone Fiber Network (virtual private cloud)

    Cg 400k

    Amount in the column labelled 2027 of the Objective 3 capital table. That table's columns are labelled 2026/2027/2028 and all its figures are the same as in the 2026 budget (2026 budget, English edition, p.73); the first column (labelled 2026) shows 1,300, then 400 (2027), 400 (2028) and 400 follow-up. If the labels were not updated, the 2027 amount would be 1,300. No financing source is stated; not in the numbers book's capital service.

  • Police (KPSM): CCTV expansion (hardware, software, licences)

    Cg 198k

    Numbers book: Cg 198,000, same as 2026; Cg 400,000 planned for 2028.

This ministry's capital chapter, 2027

Cg 4,471,990

1.8% of the country's Cg 248,519,771 capital budget, to the guilder, as printed in the numbers book. Across all chapters the capital budget also covers loan repayments and study loans.

Targets & staff

Targets

Targets to track

The indicators and targets the ministry sets itself in the draft budget.

  • Staffing occupancy of the ministry's total establishment (job book)

    Target58% in 2027 once budgeted vacancies are filled, up from 53.8% (590 FTEs) now

  • Legal-position placement of justice workers and retroactive pay

    TargetPhase 2 paid in Q1 and Q2 2027 with placement decisions issued ministry-wide; phase 3 starts in Q2 2027; calculations and payments of retroactive pay for 10 Oct 2010 to 31 Dec 2022 further validated and checked (Cg 5,080 thousand budgeted for retroactive payments)

  • US State Department Trafficking in Persons (TIP) ranking

    TargetImprove the ranking: Sint Maarten has been rated Tier III for the fifth year and held Tier I in 2016

  • CFATF mutual evaluation (anti-money-laundering standards)

    TargetA favourable CFATF mutual evaluation and correction of the deficiencies from the fourth-round evaluation, avoiding blacklisting

  • Foreigner Detention Centre (FDC) compliance with international detention standards

    TargetFDC brought up to an international (CPT-compliant) standard in 2027

  • Permanent Customs headquarters

    TargetSuitable location identified and lease agreement secured (short term)

  • Joint French-Dutch work at the Opal Building (Public Safety Center): number of parallel or joint investigations and response time to incidents

    No target printed.

  • Traffic enforcement: number of checks and vehicle inspections

    No target printed.

Every ministry's targets side by side →

Staffing

People and posts

How many of the ministry's posts are filled. Empty posts can mean planned work is delayed.
Posts filled54%

590 filledof 1,095 posts (establishment)

Posts filled
590
Empty posts with money in the budget
51
All posts (establishment)
1,095

Printed totals of the ministry's staffing table (FTEs). The totals do not match the table's own 14 department rows, which add up to 45 budgeted vacancies, 635 FTEs in budget and 460 unbudgeted vacancies (printed: 51, 644 and 451); 590 + 51 would also be 641, not 644. The narrative's 58% target matches the row sums (635 of 1,095). The narrative gives occupancy as 53.8%. Staat B (the personnel statement in the numbers book) gives 590 filled, 506 vacancies, 1,096 required positions, 46 budgeted vacancies costing Cg 2,590,423.74 and 636 budgeted posts; 590 of 1,096 works out at 53.8% (this percentage is not printed in Staat B). Every figure in the memorandum's staffing table is the same as in the 2026 budget's table (2026 budget, English edition, pp. 87-88); only some department names changed. The memorandum gives total Justice personnel costs for 2027 of Cg 81,764 thousand, 'including retroactive payments, expected overtime and other personnel-related expenditure'; Staat B budgets Cg 69,234,100.58 in salary costs for the 636 budgeted posts and notes that some estimated overtime is not included in its salary details.

Staffing across government →
Risks

Risks

Risks to delivery

The risks the ministry names itself. It scores each for how likely it is and how much damage it would do, from 1 to 5. Highest combined score first.

  • Not achieving Objective 4: strengthening law enforcement and crime prevention

    LikelihoodImpact

    Scored 3 for probability and 5 for impact, the only objective given the highest impact score. The chapter says insufficient resources let criminals operate with impunity, which can lead to violent incidents.

  • Not achieving Objective 1: strengthening international cooperation with strategic partners

    LikelihoodImpact

    Scored 3 for probability and 4 for financial impact on 1-5 scales. The chapter warns that failing anti-money-laundering standards could bring 'blacklisting' or banking restrictions.

  • Not achieving Objective 2: shared responsibility for safety and justice

    LikelihoodImpact

    Scored 3 for probability and 4 for impact. The chapter says high crime, juvenile delinquency and social instability directly affect residents' daily lives.

  • Not achieving Objective 3: building a fairer and more effective justice system

    LikelihoodImpact

    Scored 3 for probability and 4 for impact. The ministry argues that understaffing leads to overtime, temporary hires, errors and legal risk, and costs more in the long run.

  • Not achieving Objective 5: modernisation of border security, customs and immigration

    LikelihoodImpact

    Scored 3 for probability and 4 for impact. The budget says Sint Maarten is one of the few Caribbean islands whose Customs has no automated registration and declaration system, which limits transparency over the flow of goods.

  • Not achieving Objective 6: prison reform and reducing recidivism

    LikelihoodImpact

    Scored 2 for probability and 4 for impact, the lowest probability score. The risk table labels it 'Prison reform & Modernisation of recidivism'; the objective's own heading says 'reducing recidivism'.

Detailed budget lines

The numbers book

The biggest budget lines

The numbers book (Getallenboek, in the Dutch submission) lists every line of spending to the guilder. These are this ministry's 10 largest lines for 2027, with the Dutch wording as printed.
Search all 188 lines for this ministry

  • Gross salaries

    Brutolonen en Salarissen

    Police Force (KPSM)

    2026Cg 26,727,605
    2027Cg 26,727,605
    No change vs 2026

  • Gross salaries

    Brutolonen en Salarissen

    Immigration & Border Protection

    2026Cg 11,573,461
    2027Cg 11,573,461
    No change vs 2026

  • Gross salaries

    Brutolonen en Salarissen

    Prison & remand centre

    2026Cg 10,767,261
    2027Cg 10,767,261
    No change vs 2026

  • Government institutions

    Overheidsinstellingen

    Joint Court of Justice

    2026Cg 6,391,280
    2027Cg 6,391,280
    No change vs 2026

  • Gross salaries

    Brutolonen en Salarissen

    Coast Guard

    2026Cg 4,345,688
    2027Cg 4,345,688
    No change vs 2026

  • Subsidies

    Subsidies

    Semi-private & NGO organisations

    2026Cg 4,280,515
    2027Cg 4,280,515
    No change vs 2026

  • Transfers

    Overdrachten

    Coast Guard

    2026Cg 3,768,270
    2027Cg 3,768,270
    No change vs 2026

  • Gross salaries

    Brutolonen en Salarissen

    Public Prosecutor's Office

    2026Cg 3,083,274
    2027Cg 3,083,274
    No change vs 2026

  • Gross salaries

    Brutolonen en Salarissen

    Customs

    2026Cg 2,997,665
    2027Cg 2,950,949
    Down Cg 46,716 vs 2026

  • Projects & activities

    Projecten en Activiteiten

    Staff bureau

    2026Cg 2,864,318
    2027Cg 2,864,318
    No change vs 2026
For you

In plain English

What this means for you

Our summary of the ministry's chapter. The figures in it come from the pages cited on this page.

  • Justice gets about Cg 113.8 million in the draft 2027 budget, almost exactly the same as in 2026. About 72% (Cg 81.8 million) pays staff. The biggest units are the police (Cg 33.6 million), the prison and remand centre (Cg 15.7 million) and immigration and border protection (Cg 14.4 million). (EN 60, EN 61)

  • The ministry has filled about half of its positions: 590 of 1,095 (54%). It says filling the funded vacancies would raise this to 58%. Some units are much lower: the Financial Intelligence Unit has 7 of 40 posts filled, the prison 90 of 230 and Customs 32 of 72. (EN 83, EN 84)

  • Cg 5.08 million is budgeted in 2027 for retroactive (back) pay to justice employees, as staff are formally placed in their proper positions. The ministry is still checking the calculations and payments of back pay for 10 October 2010 to 31 December 2022, plans to pay 'phase 2' in the first half of 2027 and to start 'phase 3' in the second quarter. (EN 71)

  • New border and customs technology is planned but is not in the formal capital budget. The plans are a National Targeting Center to check passenger lists before people arrive (Cg 3 million in 2027, about Cg 9 million in total) and the ASYCUDA automated customs system (Cg 1 million in 2027). The budget says Sint Maarten is one of the few Caribbean islands whose Customs has no automated declaration system. The numbers book's capital service gives Justice Cg 4.47 million, mostly vehicles and ICT for the police and immigration. (EN 78, EN 80, NL 50)

  • The Council of Advice noted that the draft Justice chapter contained the explanation of the 2026 budget instead of one for 2027, and said it was 'not plausible' that Justice needs no, or only limited, changes compared with 2026. It strongly advised revising the chapter before the budget went to Parliament. The government replied that the necessary changes had been processed, pointing to a Cg 2 million increase in prison salaries made by a parliamentary amendment. The submitted chapter still says there are no significant differences from 2026. (NL 307, NL 315, EN 63)

2027–2030

The four-year path

The budget's own forecast for this ministry's day-to-day spending, in whole millions. The years after 2027 are estimates and usually change in later budgets.
20272030Cg 124M
2027 draft
Cg 114M
2028 estimate
Cg 115M
2029 estimate
Cg 119M
2030 estimate
Cg 124M
The line zooms in on the range of these years; the small bars start at zero.
Sources and publication notes