Share The Pain
We’re going to get right to the point on this proposed 2010 fiscal year budget.
What’s good for the goose should be good for the Governor, the Legislature, and the exempt government employees.
In times of crisis, great statesmen lead by example. That’s a lesson apparently unlearned by those who have created this budget.
To propose that government employees accept the proposed 8 unpaid holidays when no similar proposal has been made for the Executive and Legislative branches, and the plethora of exempt government employees, is simply unacceptable.
And that’s just one of the proposals we’re hoping will be clarified while this budget is debated.
Let’s take a look at some of the highlights of this budget.
To start, it’s based on a projected $854.4 million in revenues which is higher than the $843.5 million in the revised 2009 budget. This is projected at a time when personal income tax collections are expected to drop nearly 15%; corporate taxes have reportedly dropped 67%; and gross receipts taxes are expected to be down 5.5% from 2008 levels. With all these factors in place, including the judicial mess the property tax system is in, how can we expect to generate more revenue in the next fiscal year than in this one? And when you overestimate revenue as a platform premise for the budget, you’re in the hole before you begin.
On the expense side, allocations include (but are not limited to):
• A total of $530.6 million in personnel services (salaries and benefits)
• $150.3 million in “other services and charges” including professional services and travel expenses
• $114.4 million in “miscellaneous” (our favorite)
• $62.9 million for the legislative and judicial branches
• $2.4 million for “capital outlays”
• $22.7 in utility costs
• $15.8 million in supplies
There are many more allocations, but the ones outlined above leave us feeling that there are some obvious ways to cut costs without going into the pockets of the employees who will be affected by the holiday proposal.
Minor adjustments have been proposed in the budgets of government agencies: a 5% reduction in personnel costs through extension of the hiring freeze, the holiday reduction and an attrition initiative; a 5% decrease in the agency budgets of the executive branch; and a 3% decrease in the budgets of all other agencies. Again, the greatest impact in these provisions will be on the government employees through loss of income. The other provisions don’t seem to reflect an appropriately serious response to what is clearly an escalating fiscal crisis.
So here’s where we’d like more detail and maybe then we can make sense of this.
1, What is the breakdown in the personnel cost line? How much of that total is represented by exempt salaries and benefits (including the Executive and Legislative branches)?
2. What are the planned uses for $150 million in the “other services” category? How much of the local work is being done by outside contractors and shouldn’t travel be an area that is sharply restricted in the current economic environment?
3. Please outline for us what $114 million in “miscellaneous” looks like.
We’ve already been told that the budget relies “heavily” on a $200 million short-term financing proposal recently approved by the Senate and signed into law by the governor. Money will be borrowed from various public fund accounts, and government officials have said they anticipate borrowing another $150 million from a bank or financial institution.
And we are encouraged to be optimistic about the potential financial contributions of the Captain Morgan Rum Distillery on St. Croix and future hotel and resort developments – none of which are contributing to the immediate financial quagmire in which we find ourselves.
All this at a time when there are serious questions about the use of public funds, the rising cost of energy and goods, and no real economic turnaround in sight.
Reasonable people expect to sacrifice in lean times but unless the pain is equally administered, it is extremely difficult to justify. We deserve some answers to these questions and a government that understands its responsibility to carry its share of the load.
You think the guv don’t know this term is it for him? Why do you think he is spending like a sailor in Clarysol?
I feel it is in very poor taste and irresponsible for the Casino Control Commission to give themselves raises. The salary should be lowered given the sole casino on St. Croix. Shameful conduct.
Actually it’s the governor that gave the raises. The commissioners can’t set their own salaries. And if the raises irritate you, their lavish spending and frequent travelling would probably irritate you just as much. Ask them about the new Sony flat screen TVs they bought.
oh i don’t know, the gov has always been pleasant with me,always says hello and i’m just a nobody,i say there are to many “officials” that don’t do anything down here unless they get the “whats in it for me money”
the other thing i see alot of is when “ancestral natives”see other other”ancestral natives” getting ahead they somehow always trash them unless they themselves are in on the getting ahead,it’s rather amusing to watch,you know like watching 1st graders on the playground,lol it’s all so much sour grapes,so say Mapp wins the next time around or foncie,the people complaining the most will be the ones that are’nt cashing in on his coattails,y’all need to grow up and work together
It would be interesting to see a daily schedule of the Casino Control Commission. I can’t imagine how they can possibly fill their day. The Senate should amend the legislation establishing the CCC and make it a responsible agency. Based on their budget breakdown, it seems the bulk of the budget is for salaries.
That’s why AG can spend her time on duty spewing words and spittle in defense of the administration as she is doing right now!!
On AG’s radio talk show they’re missing the point that the people at the top of this government cannot be truseted to handle our money honestly! It’s not so much that floating bonds should be a way of weathering the economic storm. The major problem is that it is becoming clear that money is not spent the way it is presented to be spent. Now they have a bigger pot to take from.
Butcher, please!!
Since we know that Gov. de Jongh has surrounded himself with criminals and thieves, one of the first things we should demand of our senators is that they not grant the “honorable” governor a lump sum budget to exploit.
NOTICE TO THE(THE DEJONGH TEN) SENATORS WHO THINK THE GOV CAN HELP THEM GET RE-ELECTED.STOP RUBBER STAMPING THIS BS. YOU ARE IN A SERIOUS STATE OF DENIAL IF YOU THINK WE DON’T SEE WHAT IS HAPPENING. PULL YOUR HEADS FROM WHERE THE SUN DON’T SHINE OR WE ARE GOING TO SEND YOU ALL HOME.
every agency in our goverment needs to be audited by an independent stateside auditor,and do we really want an active rasta pothead making choices for us while he’s on duty as governor?
Why do we need more auditing? The local and federal Inspector Generals release audit after audit yet the Governors we elect fail to address them on a wholesome basis. What we lack is enforcement and that stems from the family ties and the fact that our Attorney General is appointed by the Governor. This leads to actions such as the following: http://cruciansinfocus.com/2009/05/10/selective-justice/
I’ve been expecting something like that. It has worked in the past.
All this government greed is so depressing. I would love to come home and teach the future of the Virgin Islands.But when you read things like this and my parents home complainig about the thieving government, I will stay put on the mainland.
VI2dbone, I along with other parents who have children away are saying the same thing, Why should I encourage my son and his family to come home to a corrupt government, from time to time he comes back home and when he hears all that is happening all he does is shake his head in discuss. So trust me I truly understand what you are saying, imagine leaving the states with a good salary only to come home to a degrading salary and sometimes months before you are hired.
But keep the faith maybe just maybe someday it will change.
Tell me about it. Unfortunately I keep hearing officials speaking about several hundred thousands of dollars as if though it was a few dollars. They fail to realize, or choose to ignore, that $200k here, $450k there and another $375 here add up to over $1m. They constantly employ supporters at high salaries then expect those with degrees and experience to accept a low salary.
To add insult to injury, when a Virgin Islander returns home to establish a business, the red tape chases them away. But when a big firm like Diageo comes in, they sail smoothly through the process with full support from our representatives. Until we elect representatives that have shown they have the people’s best interest at heart, rather than those who just speak it, we’ll continue down this path of no progress.
Not to mention, Puzzled, the governor’s budget need’s $14 million of gov. employee’s money to balance it.(8 unpaid holidays) Meanwhile, they continue to spend thousands here and millions there (perks, audits, studies,etc). If you have the fortitude to listen to the senate hearings, some senators seem to be coming around to the governor’s way of thingking about the 8 holidays.
The cost of living here is definately going up. It was already the highest in the nation. More people need to pay attention.
I am so disappointed the our current leaders because they talk about how we need to make sacrifices in order to survive, when they are no sign of them setting the example. They need to be careful, because anything they say and do at this point will come back to haunt them next year.