Dear Source:
On July 3rd the 8% restoration of all government salaries will be restored if action is not taken by the 30th Legislature between now and then. Senate President Malone expressed recently that senators really would not like to postpone these cuts and decried the lack of financial information by the administration. Last week Malone stated in the media, “We have given the Governor everything he has asked for, to include the ability to draw monies from any government funding source, in order to meet our fiscal needs. Yet senators have not been granted full access to our government’s financial data. We are still awaiting the basic information we requested last Friday and the legislation we passed to grant senators real time access to government financial data was vetoed by the governor himself. The real issue here is that the 30th Legislature simply will not rubber stamp the governor’s requests."
The administration on the other hand would like the Senate to take up some of its own suggested measures until October 1st to cover the restoration of the salary levels from two years ago while suggesting other ways to balance the $19 million budget shortfall. The governor proposed three stopgap legislative measures including: extending the 8% government pay cut; authorizing bank funding to bridge the shortfall; and funding health insurance premiums to the end of the fiscal year. Please note that the 29th Legislature passed $7 million that was included in the FY 20013 budget to repay the 8% cut.
We see agencies and departments trying to make do with the lack of resources, including our hospitals and EMS. Our leaders, no doubt, see the same struggles that we all see and are trying their very best to respond to each crisis. But we see on a daily basis that many businesses are closing or limiting their hours, due a wide variety of issues including the high costs of energy. It is very difficult to plan ahead not knowing what, as best we can, the future financial state of government. The private sector is very dependent on its services and income and in turn the public sector is very dependent on the private sector for tax revenues. Let there be no doubt that our economy has had some major headwinds, including dramatic federal cuts and more importantly the closure of HOVENSA.
But with the senate hearings about to take place for the FY 2014 budget, would it not have been best if we had a Chief Financial Officer (CFO) in place as proposed over 10 years ago? Here is a snapshot of the Chief Financial Officers duties. Once again the bill is making its way through Congress.
Develop and report on the financial status of the Government of the Virgin Islands (GVI)not later than 6 months after appointment and quarterly thereafter; such reports shall be available to the public each year.
Certify spending limits of the annual budget and whether or not the annual budget is balanced.
Revise and update standards for financial management, including inventory and contracting for the GVI in general and for each agency in conjunction with the agency head. The heads of each GVI department, in particular the head of the VI Department of Finance and the head of the VI Internal Revenue Bureau shall provide all documents and information under the jurisdiction of that head that the CFO considers required to carry out his or her functions to the CFO.
Last April Delegate Christensen stated in the media “This bill is neither colonial or paternal, as has been claimed, but an attempt to bring greater transparency and accountability to the financial management and fiscal practices of the government of the Virgin Islands. The delegate said HR 85 seeks to end the acrimony and mistrust among different branches of V.I. government and the public at large and provides for revenue projections from a highly qualified person.
Therefore, could we reconsider this option and bring the executive, legislative and most importantly the public, into the current process with a sense of trust and understanding of our financial affairs going forward?
Jason Budsan, St. Thomas
