Backbench MHK Alfred Cannan renewed his call in Tynwald for a different approach to the rebalancing of public finances.
Mr Cannan suggested there should be a spending review to identify which services should continue to be provided by central government.
Chief Minister Allan Bell accepted that some people get frustrated at the pace of change but said it would help ‘enormously’ if members identified which public services ‘they would like to get rid of’.
The exchange came in Tynwald question time when Mr Cannan asked whether the rebalancing strategy required savings of £15m a year to be found for the next five years?
Mr Bell replied there were two elements to the strategy for achieving sustainable finances – increasing government income through economic growth leading to increased exchequer receipts and controlling government expenditure.
‘The rebalancing strategy is not, therefore, to find a specific £15m per annum, but to reduce our overall deficit each year through a combination of increasing income and controlling expenditure,’ he told members.
But Mr Cannan said: ‘Does the Chief Minister recognise that a balanced budget means that cash raised during the year will meet cash expenditure? Does he accept that we are nowhere near that point at this moment in time?
‘And does he accept that a different approach to the one that is currently being adopted is required in order to design a proper and effective rebalancing strategy?’
The Chief Minister agreed that government had to ensure it raises as much revenue as it spends.
But he warned that too extreme a reduction of the size of government and Government expenditure can and will have a ‘seriously detrimental’ effect on the local economy, which he said would be completely counter-productive, as well as totally disrupting services to the public.
He added: ‘We make no secret we are in very difficult times with the loss of a third of our income. I think we all have the same ends in mind that we want to see a fully balanced budget, structurally, as well as revenue budgets. That is what we are working towards.’
Chris Thomas (Douglas West) suggested £15m a year might be an under-estimate as an extra £10m would be needed to finance the Enterprise Development Fund.
Mr Bell pointed out that this fund was coming from reserves and not from the revenue budget.
Replying to separate questions from Mr Cannan, the Chief Minister said the consolidated public sector deficit had fallen from £182m for the year ending March 2011 to £110m for the year ending March this year.
These include the results of the non-revenue funded statutory boards - the Post Office and the Manx Utilities Authority – and government-owned companies such as Radio Manx Limited.
Mr Cannan said the gross revenue spending was ‘very worrying’ - and pointed out that gross pay costs have risen by 30 per cent from £304m to £396m between 2011 and 2015.
Mr Bell confirmed that the total number of government employees earning above £50,000 had risen from 759 in 2011 to 813 this year, representing 7 per cent of public sector workforce. He said those figures relate only to those paid through central government payroll. He pointed out there have been pay rises of 1 to 2 per cent each year as well as incremental progression.
Mr Cannan said in that same period, 2011 to 2015, there were now 15 more earning above £200,000.
Health Minister Howard Quayle MHK said the vast majority of those high earners were hospital consultants and you had to pay the going rate.