Layoffs, talk of privatization and a recent appropriation of $600,000 to keep Vitran afloat have Sen. Adlah "Foncie" Donastorg again calling for an audit of the territory’s transportation system.
About a month ago, Donastorg wrote V.I. Inspector General Steven Van Beverhoudt requesting an audit of Vitran. Van Beverhoudt said his office couldn’t immediately take on the task because of its workload. Donastorg now is asking when the IG's office could do the audit.
With Vitran facing a $12 million operating deficit, the Turnbull administration announced that 62 Vitran workers would be laid off effective May 10. Donastorg and union leaders have alleged that mismanagement is the root of the problem, not the employees.
Union officials cited the fact that Public Works, which operates Vitran, spent approximately $330,000 in transportation funds earlier this year to pay trash haulers on St. John. Public Works has also been criticized for not spending some of the $12 million in federal funds the department received last year on the bus service.
Since Donastorg’s first request for an audit, the Legislature appropriated about $660,000 to rehire the laid-off Vitran workers and keep them on the payroll until Sept. 30, the end of the fiscal year. But most of that money has been spent elsewhere, according to the Turnbull administration's chief labor negotiator, Karen Andrews.
She said $370,000 of the money, appropriated from the government's Indirect Cost Fund, has already gone to pay outstanding bills incurred by Vitran for fuel, tires and operating expenses. The remaining $290,000 was not enough to cover the reinstatement of even some of the laid-off workers. She said the money would go to meet outstanding Vitran obligations through Sept. 30.
Meanwhile, Public Works Commissioner Harold Thompson Jr. has announced that he is putting together a plan to privatize Vitran. A request for proposals should be completed by the end of July, according to administration officials.
In light of what has transpired since his first audit request, Donastorg on Wednesday again asked Van Beverhoudt to look at Vitran’s books. The inspector general couldn't be reached for comment Thursday evening.
"The layoffs, the use of the Senate appropriation to pay debt and now these privatization proposals all beg for an auditor to come in and give us some answers," Donastorg said.
Donastorg told Van Beverhoudt that "a viable public transportation system is an essential component of a modern community’s infrastructure" and that an audit is a "fundamental tool" in improving and maintaining Vitran.
"I know that your office is experiencing an overwhelming workload, but I ask that you, at the very least, confirm a future date at which you can begin a Vitran audit."
