Frederiksted

ST. THOMAS — The governor’s financial team presented a revised budget for Fiscal Year 2011 to the Senate Appropriations and Budget Committee Tuesday, raising the total General Fund budget request from $781.9 million to $826.7 million.

When Gov. John deJongh Jr. sent down his 2011 budget recommendation for all government departments and agencies in June, it totalled $1.2 billion. Of that amount, $781.9 million was to come from the General Fund. The remaining comes from federal grants and contributions from other local funds.

Debra Gottlieb, director of the Office of Management and Budget, said the budget has been adjusted upward because of an award of about $40 million in federal funds through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. She said the money — $27.1 million in state stabilization funds for Education and $13.2 million from the Education Jobs Fund — will be reimbursed to the V.I. government but has to be appropriated from the General Fund first.

The remaining $4.5 million budget increase comes from adjusted revenue projections — mostly increases in corporate income and gross receipts taxes. Gottlieb said these categories are expected to grow as several major development projects come online, specifically Diageo’s rum distillery, Cruzan Rum’s expansion and the Island Crossing shopping center on St. Croix.  

Sen. Louis Hill asked the financial team whether they were satisfied with the revised revenue projections.

“The significant change is the federal funding, and that is something that is sure to come in,” Nathan Simmonds, senior policy advisor to the governor, said.

 Sen. Neville James pointed out that revenue projections are just that — projections.

“This is fluid, it moves from week to week,” James said.

Gottlieb also told senators that FY 2010 is expected to end with a $36 million budget shortfall, despite borrowing hundreds of millions of dollars to keep the government afloat.

“As a result, there are $36.3 million of current year appropriations that will probably lapse without being allotted because of the current revenue situation,” Gottlieb said.

She said the executive branch is continuing to try to bridge the gap between spending and revenue collections. Most departments and agencies took a 1 percent cut in their 2010 allotments, the limited hiring freeze and attrition program still is in place and an energy conservation program has been implemented, Gottlieb said. Reducing travel, maximizing federal dollars and expediting capital improvement projects also are ways the government is trying to keep a balanced budget, she said.

“As you are aware, as expenditure levels continue to escalate, revenue collections must keep pace or we are forced to restrict allotment levels,” Gottlieb said.

Gottlieb asked senators to consider repealing a recent law — which was vetoed by deJongh and overridden by the Legislature — that waives all fees and penalties for late 2006 property tax payments. She said it is a disincentive for people to pay their taxes on time, which impacts government revenues.

A number of technical amendments also were submitted to senators by the governor’s financial team Tuesday.

For legislation already passed in 2010, the following changes were requested:

•    Appropriating an additional $1.3 million to the V.I. Department of Health to be eligible for a federal reimbursement for the territory’s Medicaid program.

•    Increasing the funds from $3.2 million to $4.5 million to pay the third-party fiduciary for Education.

•    Increasing the number of fiscal years the government is permitted to borrow money to cover projected revenue shortfalls.

•    Authorizing the V.I. Public Finance Authority to negotiate with a lending institution for a letter of credit.

Gottlieb also submitted about 19 technical amendments to the executive budget that was submitted in June. Most of the amendments increase various budget appropriations for government agencies.

The Senate Majority Caucus is currently in the budget mark-up process. The Senate Appropriations and Budget Committee will take action on the 2011 budget bills Monday.

— Contact reporter Aldeth Lewin at 774-8772 ext. 311 or e-mail E-Mail.

 

ST. CROIX — V.I. Superior Court Judge Julio Brady said he will make a decision today — three days before the Primary Election is to be held — on a civil suit filed against the V.I. Board of Elections that disputes the legality of the form of paper ballots.

The lawsuit, filed by Adelbert Bryan, contests the Board of Elections’ decision on July 30 to have voters who are not using the electronic voting machines use provisional ballots instead.

If Brady decides in favor of Bryan, forcing the Election System to print up extra paper ballots in the coming days, it will cost a significant amount of money, said Elections Supervisor John Abramson Jr., who also is a defendant in the suit.

“That would create some issues, because somebody’s got to pay. If he’s talking about ballots and papers,” Abramson said, “we’re talking about substantial amounts of money.”

Bryan currently is a Democratic candidate running for the Board of Elections on St. Croix.

Brady’s courtroom was full at the hearing Tuesday morning, with about 40 people filling the seats.

Bryan represented himself, while Assistant Attorney General Carol Thomas-Jacobs represented the Board of Elections, Abramson and the V.I. government. Abramson and the members of the St. Croix Board of Elections sat behind Thomas-Jacobs — nine people in all.

Bryan brought a variety of arguments before the U.S. District Court and the V.I. Superior Court. The District Court dismissed the complaint last week, saying the proper venue for hearing the case was the Superior Court.

However, Judge Harvey Bartle III, who ruled on the District Court complaint, addressed a number of issues in Bryan’s claim. On the federal level, Bryan claims a number of violations of the Help America Vote Act — including a misuse of the provisional ballots.

Bartle dismissed those claims as “insubstantial and frivolous” and “completely devoid of merit.”

On Tuesday, Brady chose to hear oral arguments as opposed to testimony — a decision Bryan opposed.

Bryan presented Brady with a number of arguments, ranging from the “corruptibility” of the voting machines, to inadequate action on the part of the Board of Elections in re-registering voters — all tied together with various accusations of wrongdoing on the part of the Board of Elections.

The electronic voting machines do not provide an adequate paper trail, making a true recount impossible, Bryan said.

“It is not a recount,” he said. “It is a re-reading of a cartridge.”

Bryan said he brought the complaint before the courts on the grounds that the administrative procedures for addressing the problems would have taken too long, with the election looming. The board made the decision July 30 and announced it in a press release Aug. 4, which was not enough notice, he said.

He also talked at length about the Board of Elections not taking adequate steps to re-register voters who were purged from the voting lists, resulting in about 6,000 names being removed.

Under the V.I. Code, the Board of Elections is charged with removing names from the voter rolls that are inactive for two consecutive primary elections.

However, Bryan’s name has not been removed from the rolls, and he still is registered to vote.

That makes Bryan’s claims invalid, Thomas-Jacobs said.

“At no time did he say, ‘My name was removed from the voting list,’ ” she said. “He stated that he heard from others. This plaintiff must have some injury in order to bring this before the court,” she said.

Thomas-Jacobs said Bryan was bringing up “rumor” and “political propaganda” as part of his political platform.

“The fact is that Virgin Islands’ law mandates the use of electronic voting machines,” Thomas-Jacobs said. “That much is clear.”

Bryan said the use of electronic voting machines has never been enforced uniformly; there has always been a choice. He took out a manila envelope and demonstrated that the provisional ballots are placed inside and verified at a later time — once the voter’s validity is known.

“All we’re asking them to do, is take that paper out of the envelope and let the voter place that in the ballot box,” Bryan said.

— Contact Daniel Shea at 774-8772 ext. 457 or e-mail E-Mail.

The Government Employees Retirement System will temporarily suspend all loans processing for the remainder of Fiscal Year 2010, effective Sept. 20, to allow for the year-end closing of its books.

In addition, due to a planned training and demonstration of the new loan system, there also will be no processing of loan applications Sept. 14 and 15, according to a press release. To compensate for the two off days, GERS will accept applications Sep. 16 and 17.

GERS will resume loan processing operations Oct. 4.

ST. THOMAS — Cecil Thomas spent all day Tuesday walking back and forth in front of the Legislature, holding his own one-man protest.

Carrying a small sign that demanded accountability and consistency in government, Thomas stood fast in the sun and rain to get his message across.

“I’m protesting 15 years of endurance, 15 years of non-payment from the government,” he said. 

Thomas said he is owed $250,000 for work he did with Small Axe Construction before and after Hurricane Marilyn in 1995. While an appropriation for his payment was made in the Fiscal Year 2008 budget, the appropriation lapsed before he could get an invoice submitted to the Department of Property and Procurement.

Now his only remedy is to have the Legislature re-appropriate the funds or amend the previous legislation to make the appropriation available until expended. He said he has brought the issue to all the senators.

“No one is seeming to hear my cries,” Thomas said.

“I can’t make the senators make law,” he said. “The government used public exigency to get me in there to do the work, but there’s no public exigency to get me paid.”

The Daily News publication of the names and salaries of most of the territory’s almost 10,000 government employees raised questions about some of the names that appeared and some of the salaries.

•    Should many police officers be paid less than many clerical workers and secretaries in other departments?

•    Why does a small commission need to have three members paid more than $100,000 a year?

•    Do some of the employees on the list still work in the listed positions?

The Daily News came across a number of apparent discrepancies as it combed through the names, and dedicated readers called in to notify the newspaper of additional salary issues.

After speaking with Kenneth Harmon Jr., director of the V.I. Division of Personnel, and a number of other government agencies, some of the more glaring discrepancies have been resolved — or will be, in short order.

One of the more common issues was incorrect listings for personnel at various levels.

The Division of Personnel, which supplied The Daily News with the salary information, has undergone some radical changes over the last year, which accounted for a number of mistaken listings, Harmon said.

In October 2009, the division began switching over from its old personnel-listing module to the current electronic Enterprise Resource Portal — ERP — system.

With the new module, the division’s mission changed. It no longer maintained active lists of all departmental personnel; that task was assigned to each government entity, Harmon said.

Now, the division exists to support all departments in maintaining their lists and to approve personnel actions.

But in the process of switching modules, some information crossed, Harmon said.

“While this system is new — and we do our utmost to make sure the system is entirely accurate — there may be some wrong titles,” Harmon said. “But one thing we are proud about is that everyone gets paid correctly.”

“We made sure — and our total focus is making sure — salaries and compensation were right,” he said. “We’ve put our initial focus on getting that information right.”

The employee listing is constantly changing, he said.

“Our personnel listing is not something that stays stagnant,” Harmon said. “I can run a report at 3 o’clock that says the government of the Virgin Islands had 10,000 employees, and I can run a report at the end of the day — I can print that again — and the number has changed,” Harmon said. “It’s a living list.”

These are discrepancies The Daily News questioned:

•    A retired judge was still listed as a V.I. Superior Court employee.

Former Superior Court Judge Leon Kendall was listed among the Superior Court’s St. Thomas personnel — as judge and paid at a judge’s salary of $152,000. He retired in 2009.

When asked whether he had been receiving paychecks from the Superior Court after retiring, Kendall replied: “Absolutely not. I retired Oct. 3, 2009.”

That was confirmed by Superior Court Presiding Judge Darryl Donohue after he looked into the matter.

“Judge Kendall is not on our active payroll,” Donohue said.

Kendall remains on the Superior Court’s electronic personnel listing, Harmon said, because between October and December 2009, all governmental divisions were told to file all personnel actions in both electronic and paper formats to ensure that no information was lost in the transition between systems. The Superior Court neglected to file the electronic retirement process forms.

“There is no electronic action pending,” Harmon said, so Kendall will remain in the list of active personnel until the court takes action.

While Kendall could have been paid if someone from the Superior Court entered time and attendance for the former judge, that did not happen, Harmon said. Kendall was not paid after he retired.

Harmon said he will be speaking with the Superior Court human resources representative, during his division’s biweekly conference call with all governmental human resources officers, about starting the electronic retirement process so they can get the judge off the system.

“That will be the number one topic,” he said.

•    PSC board members were listed as being paid $20,000 annually.

While it appeared that four V.I. Public Services Commission board members — Donald Cole, Verne Alexander, Sirri Hamad and Merrion Jackson — were receiving $20,000 annual salaries for what are supposed to be unsalaried positions, that is not the case, officials said.

“They are a volunteer commission,” said PSC spokeswoman Lorna Nichols. “There is no $20,000.”

Each board member receives $75 for each meeting they attend, Nichols said — and those stipends are taxed.

Harmon verified that. But in order for the Division of Personnel to issue the $75 checks, the board members must be set up as employees in the system, although they do not receive a Notice of Personnel Action, also called a NOPA. When the board members’ names were transferred over to the new system, they were set at the default lowest salary possible: $20,000.

“They don’t receive a NOPA, and they don’t receive a salary,” Harmon said.

•    An assistant police commissioner’s name was left off the list.

Assistant V.I. Police Commissioner Raymond Hyndman was on the list of Police Department employees. Hyndman was appointed to his position in March 2010. Because the lists were created between April and May, Hyndman may not have been on the list when it was produced, he said.

Police Commissioner Novelle Francis Jr. said that Hyndman definitely is getting paid, and his salary is $95,000 a year.

•    Bodyguards were listed as police officers.

The Police Department listed eight members with the job titles of “Dignitary Security.” The term refers to the bodyguards for Gov. John deJongh Jr. and Lt. Gov. Gregory Francis.

Some of the individuals were in the Police Department before this assignment, but most are selected personally by the dignitaries themselves, trained by the Police Department and placed on the Police Department personnel list for compensation purpose, the commissioner said. Each receives about $70,000 annually.

•    Police officers were listed with wrong titles.

There were 14 police officers listed with the title “STD/HIV/TB CO” — a title that is nonexistent in the Police Department, said Commissioner Francis.

The problem arose because each job title has a corresponding number, Harmon said, and a data entry error was made by someone in the Division of Personnel.

•    Part-time base security guards were listed as making more than $100,000.

Under the Office of the Adjutant General, two base security guards were listed as having an annual compensation of more than $100,000. Daryl Jashen was listed at an annual salary of $126,422 and Jesus Poupart was listed as making $109,304.

Those numbers are not correct, Harmon said.

When each part-time security guard’s information was put in the new system, it was put in under an hourly wage on the federal pay scale, he said. The system automatically switched the hourly wage to a yearly salary, which would add up to the corresponding numbers.

However, each security guard works only a couple of days a month and makes “nowhere near that actual annual salary,” Harmon said.

•    Some agencies, departments and entities did not provide their employees’ salary information.

All government departments and agencies whose employees are paid through the Division of Personnel payroll system were on the list provided to The Daily News, but among those that are not, most either ignored The Daily News’ written requests or replied that they do not “agree” with the public records law or the territorial court ruling that reinforces the law.

Those that will not disclose their employees’ salaries are:

•    V.I. Water and Power Authority.

•    University of the Virgin Islands.

•    Waste Management Authority.

•    Public Finance Agency.

•    V.I. Lottery.

•    Government Employees Retirement System.

Gaston is still a disorganized tropical wave, but residents and visitors will feel its stormy weather today and possibly tomorrow as it passes through the territory.

Robert Mitchell, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in San Juan, said heavy rains and gusty winds are predicted to hit the Virgin Islands today. 

“The way it’s moving, it’s still pretty much disorganized,” Mitchell said.

While the storm had not been upgraded by presstime, Mitchell said it has a 70 percent chance of reintensifying to a tropical cyclone within 24 to 36 hours. 

“It’s very crucial to see how things pan out today and tomorrow,” Mitchell said.

Heavy showers and wind gusts, along with isolated tropical storm force winds, will move in bands across the islands starting this afternoon and may continue Wednesday, he said.

Mitchell said sea conditions will start deteriorating, and a small craft advisory is in effect through Wednesday. Atlantic waters and passages may see sustained winds of 18 to 28 knots with occasional gusts up to 35 knots, he said.

“It’s mainly because of the approach of Gaston,” he said. “Just be alert and just monitor the situation.”

He said depending on the rainfall that may come with the storm, the National Weather Service may issue flood watches for the Virgin Islands.

— Contact reporter Aldeth Lewin at 774-8772 ext. 311 or
e-mail E-Mail.

 

With National Breast Cancer Awareness Month just around the corner in October, the American Cancer Society of the U.S. Virgin Islands will begin registering women without insurance coverage for low-cost or no-cost mammograms this week on St. Thomas and St. John and next week on St. Croix.

Registration for the mammograms will continue as long as space is available, said executive director Fern LaBorde. The mammograms will be scheduled for the month of October. Registration will be available during certain hours on certain days on all three islands.

“We start registering in September, and it goes straight through October until the spots are filled,” LaBorde said.

The American Cancer Society estimates that in 2010, about 207,900 new cases of invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed in women in the United States, along with about 54,010 new cases of carcinoma in situ, which is the earliest form of breast cancer. The chance of a woman having invasive breast cancer at some point in her life is a little less than 1 in 8.

Approximately 39,840 women will die of breast cancer this year in the United States, according to the organization, which also estimates that there are more than 2.5 million breast cancer survivors in the nation.

The American Cancer Society recommends that women age 40 and older have a screening mammogram every year.

LaBorde said that the no-cost mammograms will be available to women without health insurance and the low-cost mammograms will be available to women who have health insurance that does not cover screenings.

More than 300 women took advantage of the opportunity for a low-cost or no-cost mammogram under the program last year, she said.

LaBorde said the local chapter is asking women who do have health insurance to schedule their mammograms during a month other than October so that there will be more appointment space for those without insurance.

The number of mammograms that will be available on St. Croix is capped at 50, because only one provider is participating on that island, LaBorde said. In the St. Thomas-St. John District, more appointments are available, she said.

Those wishing to get a free or low-cost mammogram must register at an American Cancer Society office. An authorization form will be prepared to present to the medical facility, and an appointment in October will be made, LaBorde said.

Registrations for the mammograms will be accepted:

•    On St. Thomas, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesdays through Thursdays, starting today, at the American Cancer Society office on the first floor at the Medical Arts Complex in Altona. For more information, call 775-5373.

•    On St. John, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursdays only, beginning this week, on the third floor of The Market Place in Cruz Bay. For more information, call 775-5375.

•    On St. Croix, from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesdays through Thursdays, beginning Sept. 13, at the American Cancer Society office at Sunny Isle. For more information, call 778-2882.

— Contact Joy Blackburn at
774-8772 ext. 455 or e-mail
jblackburn@dailynews.vi.

ST. THOMAS — V.I. Agriculture Commissioner Louis Petersen is trying to bring order to Estate Bordeaux.

Only about half of the farmers on the approximately 250 acres of government-owned land on the western end of St. Thomas are growing and selling food, Petersen said, and about a third of them are living on the land illegally.

V.I. residents can lease property from the Agriculture Department to grow crops for $20 per acre, per year. Currently about 150 acres of the government-owned land is being rented, Petersen said, and the department has put a moratorium on new leases until unproductive farmers are evicted and paperwork is in order to allow all productive farmers to remain on the land legally.

Petersen said that lax oversight by the department led to an influx of squatters on the property over the years. About one in three farmers on the land is a squatter, he said.

In addition to setting rent on the land, V.I. law allows farmers to build a 240-square-foot structure on the property they lease. The structure must be approved by the Agriculture Department, and Petersen said that in his three years as agriculture commissioner, no Estate Bordeaux farmer has sought approval for a structure.

“We can’t have that kind of haphazard development,” Petersen said.

The department compiled a list of farmers who are doing what they are supposed to in Estate Bordeaux — growing food, selling it and keeping a record of what they sell. Some of the squatters are productive farmers, Petersen said, and some of the government’s tenants are not.

“In the big picture, what we are trying to do is bring as much possible order and structure to the process of developing our agriculture industry,” he said.

The Agriculture Department is working with the V.I. Attorney General’s office to bring productive squatters into compliance and evict unproductive farmers from the property.

Petersen said that he has turned to police to try to get squatters to leave but has been told that unless they are creating a disturbance, squatters cannot be removed from the property without going through a formal eviction process.

Even if the squatters and unproductive farmers are removed, there is little to prevent them from returning, Petersen said, except other farmers.

The department does not have enforcement officers, and Petersen said department officials rely on Bordeaux’s productive farmers to let them know when people move onto the property illegally.

“Only in partnership will we make this happen,” he said.

— Contact reporter Constance Cooper at 774-8772 ext. 364 or e-mail E-Mail.

 

ST. THOMAS — The V.I. Water and Power Authority has almost completed the restoration of power to the territory, just one week after Hurricane Earl brushed the Virgin Islands.

“Every area is up and running, there’s just the isolated areas here and there that may have problems,” WAPA spokeswoman Cassandra Dunn said.

Dunn said repairs on St. Croix and St. John are complete and St. Thomas is about 99 percent complete — with exceptions of individual spots that may have damaged weatherheads.

“We know there are still some customers who have damage to their weatherheads, and as soon as they are repaired, we will hook them up,” Dunn said.

Customers with damaged weatherheads should have a licensed electrician apply to WAPA for a disconnection and reconnection of service in order to make repairs, Dunn said.

“Normally that would be $111, but we’re waiving that if it was damaged in the storm,” Dunn said.

Once repairs are completed, service will be restored to the home or business, she said.

The last major area repairs on St. Thomas were done Monday with crews able to get Mahogany Run and Peterborg back up. 

“Next up, we’ll start on the streetlights and try to repair those as quickly as we can,” Dunn said.

Many of the streetlight fixtures were blown out in the storm, she said. WAPA crews will also start focusing on general cleanup of any lines which need tightening and poles that need straightening, she said.

“We’ll still have a full complement of crews out,” Dunn said.

WAPA crews will go back to their regular shifts, 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. and then 4 p.m. on through the night. There will also be crews on standby, Dunn said.

“We’ll just keep a couple of extra shifts on in the evening to respond to anything that needs to be done,” she said.

WAPA has met its goal of getting power restored to the territory about one week after the storm, Dunn said. 

“We had projected that we would be finished by early this week, and we did make that,” she said. “We feel good about that.”

She said the line crews are exhausted but proud of the effort to get the lights back on.

“They’re tired, tired, tired but with that comes exhilaration that they’ve done a good job, that the job is just about complete and the public is happy to be back on,” Dunn said.

Line crews will continue to respond to trouble calls in isolated or pocket areas where problems may still exist. St. Thomas, St. John and Water Island customers still experiencing problems in their areas should call the Hurricane Call Center at 777-9272 until noon today. After noon, reports can be made to the line department at 774-1424 on a 24-hour basis, Dunn said.

WAPA shut down the Hurricane Call Center on St. Croix at 5 p.m. Monday. Customers still experiencing problems can call the line department 24 hours a day at 773-0150 or 773-2250 ext. 3056.

Dunn said WAPA is happy to get feedback on their work and will use it to do better in the future.

“When we debrief, we certainly will look at our successes and anything we might want to improve on for the future, so we certainly welcome the comments that we’ve received from the public,” she said. “It’s always our desire to do better and better.”

She said the public can send comments to E-Mail.

— Contact reporter Aldeth Lewin at 774-8772 ext. 311 or e-mail E-Mail.

The V.I. Housing Authority has postponed the scheduled public hearing on St. Thomas to discuss the Fiscal Year 2011 five-year and agency plans.

The public hearing will now be held at 6 p.m. Sept. 14 in Oswald Harris Court Community’s Technical Maintenance Training Institute.

The public hearing to discuss the FY 2011 five-year and agency plans still will be held at 6 p.m. Wednesday in the executive conference room at the Housing Authority’s central office in the Aureo Diaz Heights Community.

For more information, contact Noel Lewis at 715-7329.