Looks like there's no turning back now as the administrative agreement between Bonaire and The Netherlands was signed yesterday. After 10/10/10 Bonaire will become part of the Netherlands. It appears that now the period of uncertainty has effectively been eliminated.. And that's a good thing! The Dutch government will now take over the tasks previously administered by the Antillian Government.

So we should buy our property now before prices skyrocket with the improvements to infrastructure?

So is this a good thing with respect to the type of people that frequent this forum? That being, people that like the non-resort type accommodations on the island, are concerned about the health of the reef, and would like to see a little more aggressive stance by the police on crime?

What pros and cons do you see with this new arrangement?

e.

We hope this will result in better support and training of the police. Bonaire must solve its current crime problems for it to remain on our list of must places to vacation.

Have the NLs acknowledged the problem or voiced any intent to improve police coverage?

e.

[What pros and cons do you see with this new arrangement]

e: the short answer is I don't see any cons.. The pros..
1. More money available to the island..
2. Better education for the folks on island
3. Better retirement
4. Better medical care
5. Sanitation & waste water treatment now has a chance of becoming a realit
6. Better police force will be implemented

This is what initially comes to mind.
Oh & because of the 1956 Friendship Treaty between the Netherlands & the U.S., I suspect Americans will be able to spend longer time on the island with going through the hassle of securing a residency permit.

Vince I'm wondering about the tax structure for folks who own houses down there.... any ideas??

when will the US dollar be currency of island ? shall we get rid of our guilders before then ?

Bill..Don't quite understand the question. What type of taxes are we talking about? I don't know if there's going to be any great change with property taxes and the Netherlands will still want their cut of income generated on the island I'm sure. I don't see how it will affect US incomes taxes as we still have the foreign tax credit.
But I'm not an accountant nor do I play one on TV!

*Debbi*..I believe the official date for the monetary transition will be 01/01/11.

Thanks Vince. Hopefully the con won't be higher cost for coming to Bonaire but we'll just have to wait and see.

e.

The changeover in brief:
Prior to 1 October 2010 Exchange as many guilders as possible
1 January 2011 Introduction of the US dollar
1 February 2011 Guilder ceases to be legal tender on Bonaire, Sint Eustatius & Saba

Bill:

Unlike the rest of the BES implementing legislation, the Tax Law and Customs and Excise Laws have not passed the Second Chamber. The latest (Friday last week) is that these may be delayed until after the Dutch elections in June. Technically the existing laws will disappear with the Antilles on 10-10-10 so something has to be decided before then.

Everyone is waiting to see what will happen. But would be nice to have some decision so people can start planning.

If they do it in a similar way as the chance from the Guilder to the Euro in the Netherlands some years ago you would be able to change your guilders at any bank for a substantial period of time (I would expect at least a year...maybe longer) after it ceases to be legal tender.

The local banks have info sheets how to handle the change over ....