The Senate Budget, Appropriations and Finance Committee reviewed fiscal year 2027 budgets Wednesday for the Division of Personnel and Office of Collective Bargaining, examining personnel spending, employee benefits and the status of labor talks.
Division of Personnel Director Cindy L. Richardson and Office of Collective Bargaining Chief Negotiator Joss N. Springette outlined their spending plans and answered questions on hiring, retention, health insurance obligations and pending collective bargaining agreements.
Richardson said the Division of Personnel is “committed to building a modern workforce for the government of the Virgin Islands,” and is focused on improving organizational performance, professional development and retaining a diverse workforce to meet the territory’s needs.
The administration is proposing a $66.9 million budget for fiscal year 2027, including $66.3 million from the General Fund and $590,000 from the Indirect Cost Fund. Most of the budget passes through the division to pay health insurance costs, Richardson said, including $38.2 million for retiree coverage and $19.9 million for active and retiree premiums, along with smaller oversight and consulting costs.
The division’s operating budget totals about $6.4 million for salaries, fringe benefits, supplies and services. The proposal also includes $959,879 for the government of the Virgin Islands Fellows Program.
Richardson said the government has paid $132.7 million in health insurance premiums as of May 2026, with costs split 73% to the government and 27 percent to employees. The plan covers about 14,080 primary members and more than 19,000 people, including dependents.
Chief of Group Health Insurance & Wellness Valerie Daley said utilization is in the 80% range, improved from earlier periods, and lawmakers said the trend could strengthen fiscal year 2027 negotiations. Richardson said some increase in premiums is still expected, though likely smaller than the roughly $20 million increase in the current fiscal year.
Daley linked the improvement to wellness programs, including the Fit Force gym initiative, which has 8,949 participants and a waitlist of more than 500 employees. The program operates gyms on St. Thomas and St. Croix, and the division budgets $1 million for wellness programs, estimating that increasing funding to about $1.5 million would expand access and add locations in St. John.
Richardson said participation in wellness initiatives is up, adding that employees are reporting “improved sleep quality, reduced stress levels, increased physical activity, greater self-awareness, and enhanced overall vitality.”
Richardson said the central government employs about 5,550 workers, down from 6,529 in 2023, and that semiautonomous agencies have expanded while central government staffing has declined. Sen. Kurt A. Vialet raised concerns that a shrinking workforce means fewer active contributors to the Government Employees’ Retirement System and fewer employees paying into the government health insurance plan. “The less employees we have, the less people paying into the Government Employee Retirement System, the less people paying health insurance premium,” Vialet said.
Richardson said about 830 employees have 27 or more years of government service and are nearing retirement eligibility under current rules. Cordell Rhymer, the division’s chief technology officer, said the public-sector workforce across all branches totals about 9,825 employees. Richardson added that women make up the majority of central government workers.
Richardson said Notices of Personnel Action, or NOPAs, are now processed in about two business days, better than the division’s target of five business days. She said the government maintains a telework policy but has no formal off-island remote-work policy.
She said the division will launch a learning management system Aug. 1 using $478,254 in American Rescue Plan Act funding. The system will provide access to more than 30,000 courses and serve as a centralized platform to assign and track required employee training across agencies.
Lawmakers also questioned whether “Division of Personnel” accurately reflects the agency’s role. Richardson said the term is outdated nationally and told senators it “would be great if we could be the Department of Human Resources.”
The Office of Collective Bargaining, created in 1980 within the Office of the Governor, represents the executive branch in labor negotiations and coordinates the government’s position in mediation and arbitration. Springette requested a $1,574,728 budget for fiscal year 2027 to cover salaries, benefits and operations, plus $120,000 in capital funds to replace aging copiers and purchase a vehicle.
Springette said the six‑person office, with locations on St. Thomas and St. Croix, is managing 473 cases as of May 31. From Oct. 1, 2025, through May 31, it received 98 new cases but resolved only five, a pace she linked to both attorney positions tied to the office being vacant. “It has definitely slowed down the legal work that we do in terms of arbitrating or disposing cases,” she said, “but it hasn’t stopped.”
OCB negotiates with 15 labor unions representing 31 bargaining units, nine of which have current contracts, Springette said. She told senators that wage talks slowed while the government implemented a $35,000 minimum salary and agencies adjusted their budgets, but have now resumed. She noted that the Office of Management and Budget has identified $5 million for potential wage-related appropriations.
The hearing ended with senators generally signaling support for the core budget requests while pressing for tighter control of health insurance costs, better planning for an aging and shrinking workforce, and faster resolution of labor cases.
