Wayne Biggs Jr., commissioner of the Department of Licensing and Consumer Affairs, assured senators Tuesday the department’s new online licensing system will be up and running within 30 days.
The statement came during a hearing of the Senate Committee on Appropriations and Budget hearing
The agency’s online system suffered a catastrophic crash this April and since then, much to the dismay of local business owners, all new licenses and renewals have had to be issued manually.
Biggs also hopes to streamline the licensing process by revising some of the business occupancy requirements included in the process. Draft legislation is being prepared for submission to the governor to make the Virgin Islands Fire Service and Department of Health certificates a separate requirement from licensing. Likewise, the Bureau of Internal Revenue has already drafted and submitted to the governor legislation that would remove the requirement of a tax clearance letter, as part of the Stop Tax Evasion program, from the licensing process.
Senate President Louis P. Hill questioned Biggs about plans for Vendors Plaza, stating “these vendors are our neighbors and we want to make sure they are being taken care of.” Biggs affirmed that the department had met with the vendors and incorporated some of their suggestions into the final draft of the rules and regulations for vendors. According to Biggs, the Historic Preservation Committee is adamant that no structures be built or erected on the plaza, but was agreeable to landscaping and sprucing up the area. DLCA is looking for a landscape architect to prepare a conceptual design to submit to the commission for approval.
Tents for the vendors have arrived and will soon be distributed to the vendors. Vendors do not have to purchase the tents but will be required to give a deposit for their use. DLCA is also purchasing a system to make identification cards to issue to all vendors with valid licenses.
DLCA, a department with seven divisions including the office of the commissioner, administration and business management, legal, licensing, consumer affairs, boards and commissions, and enforcement, is asking for an appropriation of $3,682,562, an amount equal to the governor’s recommended appropriation.
The money will be divided among the divisions, with $512,087 going to the office of the commissioner, $371,570 to the legal unit, $1,070,322 to licensing, which includes the personnel expenses of the enforcement division, $830,303 to administrative and business management, $358,239 to consumer affairs, $315,119 to the weights and measures unit, and $224,922 to boards and commissions.
The office of the Virgin Islands Inspector General gave the final testimony of the day Tuesday and, like the DLCA, requested funding equal to the governor’s recommended appropriation, in this case $1,773,461. This amount, according to Steven van Beverhoudt, inspector general-nominee, “is adequate to meet our basic operating needs”. Not included in the budget, however, is funding to repair the building housing the Inspector General’s office on St. Thomas. Van Beverhoudt told senators the building had not had any major repair work since 1990 and was in dire need. The repairs will cost an estimated $200,000 and van Beverhoudt has applied to the Public Finance Authority for financing of the building repairs.
The mission of the OVIIG is to promote economy, efficiency, and effectiveness, and to prevent fraud, waste, and abuse in the programs and operations of the government of the Virgin Islands. It is a separate, independent agency that functions as the auditing arm of the government and is part of the executive branch.
Van Beverhoudt testified that his office is understaffed, preventing them from carrying out more than three large audits at any given time and hampering timely investigations and follow up.
“We should not be a part of the executive branch,” he added, and said travel and hiring is curtailed because they are bound by the rules of that branch.
Hill has requested an audit of the Legislature and asked van Beverhoudt for the status of that audit, saying, “The Legislature is open and available to be audited. I want to use your recommendations to improve our internal controls.”
Van Beverhoudt told Hill that the audit, performed in conjunction with the Department of Interior, will be done by the end of the calendar year.
Present at Tuesday’s hearing were Sens. Carlton “Ital” Dowe, Wayne A.G. James, Hill, Samuel Sanes, and Patrick Simeon Sprauve.
