Sept. 28, 2004 — Conditions at the Earle B. Ottley Legislative Hall were hot and filled with uneasiness Monday, as Senate Rules Committee Chair Roosevelt David began his committee meeting at noon — two hours later than scheduled.
The air conditioner at the building had been down, but the uneasiness felt by the committee members had more to do with the budget bills in front of them.
With the new fiscal year only four days away, the senators approved the majority of the budget bills before them in two hours. However, they were unable to come to a consensus on the executive budget bill, and they could not finalize budgets for the legislative and judicial branches.
"We are in a precarious and delicate position in this 25th Legislature," Sen. Ronald Russell warned his colleagues, adding that the fiscal year 2005 budget needs "careful scrutiny and review."
Russell said government is supposed to serve the people, but this cannot be done effectively without a balanced budget.
This time last year, senators were in a similar predicament and were unable to pass a balanced budget before FY 2004 rolled in. The V.I. government had to operate on the 2003 budget until Gov. Charles W. Turnbull finally passed a supplemental budget in May.
A main area of contention for committee members in approving the 2005 budget Monday was the funding of the negotiated pay raises for union workers.
Turnbull had vetoed the pay raises for the workers claiming that the government did not have the money to sustain the raises. But the Legislature overrode his veto in July.
Also the committee is struggling to find new revenue sources after the Finance Committee threw out several tax proposals Turnbull had requested.
The Finance Committee had reduced several appropriations to various government agencies and the miscellaneous section to fund the $9.2 million in raises.
"I have to see those adjustments," Sen. Carlton Dowe said, before he could approve the executive budget. Dowe said it's not right to just remove revenue sources without replacing them.
Sen. Lorraine Berry agreed with Dowe, saying there were no revenues in the budget sent to them.
"This budget does not have alternatives," Berry said. "What it has is a rearranging of the deck of the Titanic."
Berry said she could not support the budget in its present form because several of the departments that were cut will be severely impacted.
Senate president David Jones agreed with Berry. "Cutting costs is not always a sign of fiscal responsibility and accountability," Jones said.
Sen. Celestino White, who is not a member of the committee, told the group they needed to turn the budget over to Berry, who has successfully moved many budgets in the past.
"It is time that the Senate majority raise up a white flag," White said, making mention of the fact that they were unable to pass a budget for 2004.
Jones said defensively that they were making "progress" because the budget was finally able to move from the Finance Committee to Rules.
But Jones pointed to another problem facing them, the lack of a budget for the legislative and judicial branches, which the Finance committee had not submitted to them.
Jones said Turnbull had made it difficult because he gave the legislative and judicial a lump-sum budget of $40.6 million to divvy up.
After breaking for lunch at 2 p.m., senators did not reconvene to vote on the executive budget bill. David announced at about 8:30 p.m. that the bill had been sent back to legal counsel to be redrafted, and they would reconvene at 9 a.m. Tuesday.
Attending the hearing were Sens. Berry, Douglas Canton, Dowe, David, Louis Hill, Jones and Russell. White, who is not a member of the committee, also attended.
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