United States salary. Most of it was in overtime payments that Office of Management and Budget officials hoped to
curtail. (Photo courtesy V.I. Legislature)
The Office of Management and Budget has asked all U.S. Virgin Islands government agencies and departments to slash operational spending by five percent heading into the last three months of the fiscal year, officials said Tuesday, to help address a $91 million shortfall.
Kimika Woods, acting OMB director, told the Senate’s Committee on Budget, Finance, and Appropriations that several factors led to the shortfall, including pay raises promised by former Gov. Kenneth Mapp and followed through on by Gov. Albert Bryan Jr. and nationwide inflation that made everything more expensive.
Former OMB Director Jenifer O’Neal revealed the shortfall in a June Senate hearing shortly before her resignation after the revelation of an FBI probe of her and now former police Commissioner Ray Martinez. She said overtime in public safety agencies and other factors caused net payroll to rise from $195 million in 2019 to a startling $239 million in 2024. O’Neal said the police overtime issue had been a problem for many years. At the time, however, said no budget cuts had yet been considered.
Woods told the Senate Tuesday that the five percent cutback was her idea.
“One thing, as we go through fiscal year 2024, is overtime curtailment. So, we do have a level of conversation with our departments and agencies, of course, expressing the need to be conservative,” Woods said.
A huge chunk of the projected $90 million overspend, she said, came from the Virgin Islands Police Department’s overtime expenditures. OMB had created an overtime-curtailment task force months ago to address extra-hour spending, Woods said, but results were not good as yet.
At the top of the 100 best-paid USVI government employees in 2023, 57 are police officers. Many nearly double their salary in overtime. Some triple or quadruple it, according to government records. One St. Croix bicycle patrol officer pulled in $387,433 in 2023 — $12,567 less than the president of the United States’ salary. Reviews of records Tuesday confirmed the Christiansted bicycle officer was the territory’s highest-paid employee — raking in more than $242,107 in overtime pay alone.
Sen. President Novelle Francis Jr., himself a former police chief and police commissioner more than a decade ago, said overtime at VIPD alone was approaching $23 million this year — up from $8 million in his time at the department.
“And I got raked over the coals regarding that. Today we are talking about $23 million,” Francis said. “Everything else is impacted because of that. So it would behove us to make sure there is some control mechanism put in place. It breeds corruption more than anything else.”
The corruption element can set in when someone gets used to a lifestyle well beyond what their base pay might afford, he said.
“When we talk about this overtime and the fact that it’s a runaway train, we don’t have an issue with an individual making overtime when they can be accountable and they can be productive,” Francis said, urging VIPD and OMB to find a way to limit overtime expenses. “It’s very important that we’re able to save some individuals from themselves and put in a control mechanism.”
Shanisa Emmanuel, OMB’s strategic financial officer, said she’d met with VIPD and things were actually getting worse.
“I have been personally monitoring VIPD’s budget and have seen that instead of curtailment, they are increasing. It’s an ongoing conversation. I’ve made it a project. It is a part of our strategic plan to ensure we are curtailing overtime,” Emmanuel said. “We have advised VIPD to look into a scheduling software to reduce the level of manpower — the abuse.”
Another meeting was planned for mid-August to present VIPD with the hard numbers and analysis of their impact, she said. Emmanuel also planned to meet with the Bureau of Corrections and the Virgin Islands Fire Department to address their overtime issues.
Cristeen Rodriguez-Cox, OMB’s senior performance analyst, had also met with VIPD, addressing the department’s human resources and payroll divisions, amongst other related bodies, she said.
“We initiated a conversation with the union leads, the chiefs of police for both districts, as well as members of the commissioner’s office to kind of discuss the systemic issue that we face with overtime in the department. What we came up with were three solutions, so far, that we feel, if implemented, in the near future will have a great impact on the reduction of overtime,” Rodriguez-Cox said.
Two solutions involved changing laws and union contracts regarding overtime. A third solution was to onboard scheduling software that would help the department maximize workforce distribution, she said.
On Monday, acting police Commissioner Mario M. Brooks acknowledged the overtime problem and welcomed the scheduling software, should it be implemented.
Woods said the five percent reduction in operational spending would not affect payroll for government agencies but was to include every agency, regardless of size or budget.
“It is across the board. It is against operating expenses and the remaining miscellaneous items that have not been released to date,” she said. “We need to make sure that our mandated costs are paid and that we are not spending in excess of our necessities.”
Sen. Donna Frett-Gregory questioned whether five percent nearing the end of the fiscal year would be enough. Woods, however, did not have an answer ready.
Woods said she had not run a report on how each government employee had been compensated for overtime, only individual departments.
Frett-Gregory urged her to do so.
“I am going to make a strong suggestion that you all do it because it going put the same knot that I have in my stomach in yours. This issue that we have with this overtime in the Virgin Islands Police Department is extremely concerning. Please drill down further,” she said. “This situation that we have is real. Look at it. Take a look at it. Once you look at it you become very passionate about this situation that we have here with VIPD. Mmmkay? That’s my strong recommendation.”
Woods delivered a request from the Legislature for $9,983,712 to fund the OMB in fiscal year 2025, which starts Oct. 1. Later, Pierina Jacobs-Feldman, chairperson of the V.I. Public Employees Relations Board, proposed a 2025 budget of $1,686,909 for the board. PERB Executive Director Jessica Philigence said the additional request of $220,000 was needed to restructure the agency to bring it in line with sister agencies nationwide, meaning more personnel needed to be hired. Since the PERB was established in 1980, more employees and unions have been added to the government, she said. Yirah Tutein, executive director of the Virgin Islands Labor Management Committee, delivered its proposed 2025 budget of $200,000. The Labor Management Committee has four employees, two full-time and two part-time.
