May 23, 2001 – In a continuation of its Fiscal Year 2002 budget hearings, the Senate Finance Committee heard vastly different reports Wednesday from the Magens Bay Authority and the V.I. Council on the Arts.
The Magens Bay Authority, a semi-autonomous agency, is completely self-sustaining. It asked for no V.I. government funds, and it no longer depends on V.I. government funding.
The Council on the Arts, on the other hand, receives federal National Endowment for the Arts funding conditional on the V.I. government matching its grants. And the local government has consistently underfunded the council, putting the NEA grants in jeopardy.
Magens Bay Authority
William C. Jowers, Magens Bay Authority general manager, said the authority's projected FY 2002 budget is $945,000, including an $80,000 reserve, with revenues also projected at $945,000.
The authority meets its expenses from fees collected at the entrance to Magens Bay beach and from the beach concessions. Gate receipts for FY 2002 are projected to be $725,000, an increase of $70,000 over FY 200l. Entrance fees for nonresidents were raised to $3 from $1 last fall.
Last year, Jowers noted, the authority received a $50,000 federal grant to install an experimental "on-site disposal" septic system, which was completed in November. The wastewater treatment system, set up with the assistance of University of the Virgin Islands outreach services, works well, Jowers said. It uses available vegetation to help absorb liquid wastes in holding tanks.
Sen. Adlah "Foncie" Donastorg said the authority had gotten $20,000 to complete construction of the wastewater treatment plant through an appropriation he had sponsored from the Anti-Litter and Beautification Commission.
Other authority projects this past year included tiling and putting new fittings on the water lines in the bathhouses, and improving the gatehouse entrance. A new bathhouse costing about $150,000, funded through private donations, will be started later this year, as soon as the authority gets the necessary permits.
Restoration of the arboretum is anticipated in 2002, Jowers said, as is completion of a roadway behind the new bathhouse, which will eliminate the need for people leaving the facility to cross an active roadway to get to the beach. The project is about 25 percent complete and is awaiting utility poles from the Water and Power Authority for markers.
Committee chair Alicia "Chucky" Hansen, who never loses sight of St. Croix's interests, was generous in her praise for the operation of the Magens Bay agency, saying she wants to use it as a model to form a Cramer's Park Authority on St. Croix.
"I am convinced our government is missing a golden opportunity to save taxpayers the money it now spends on Cramer's Park," Hansen said, "because the executive branch has failed to … implement my legislation the governor signed into law last year." Hansen said Cramer's Park could be self-sustaining too.
Sen. Donald "Ducks" Cole asked Jowers about the status of problems he had described a year earlier involving taxi access. Jowers said the situation had showed "marked improvement." He said the matter had been resolved, with taxis now allowed to drop off fares free at the beach and pay only a one-time $5 fee if they were returning later that day to pick up their fares.
V.I. Council on the Arts
The picture from the Council on the Arts was nowhere near so well in focus. The failure of the local government to match the National Endowment for the Arts funding year after year continues to jeopardize federal funding for the arts in the territory, executive director John Jowers said. And, he added, it further diminishes the Virgin Islands' credibility nationally.
Jowers, the brother of Magens Bay Authority's William Jowers, said, "We are on the brink of closing the St. Croix office, because no funds have been appropriated for this island since 2000." The St. Croix office has no staff except when Jowers or one of the other three VICA staff members on St. Thomas makes a bimonthly trip to the island. The rent is in arrears for both that office and the VICA headquarters on St. Thomas, he said.
The council is "operating in a crisis situation," Jowers said. He said NEA funds intended for re-granting for arts and cultural programs have been used to cover office expenses and supplies.
VICA received $245,000 from the NEA for 2001. "The V.I. government's contract with the federal government requires that this amount, along with administrative funding, be matched dollar for dollar," Jowers said. He said the local government appropriated $109,480 to VICA for the current year, "a $135,920 deficit."
In only one year out of the last 12 has the V.I. government met the federal fund match, Jowers said. "In addition," he said, "as a direct result of inadequate appropriations, the NEA directed that VICA's basic state grant be reduced by $10,000 for membership fees to national and regional affiliations."
For FY 2002, VICA is requesting an appropriation of $251,852, which would include salary increases for VICA personnel who haven't had a raise in 12 years and reinstatement of a St. Croix office position.
Betty Mahoney, VICA's special projects director, and Jack Peterson, its board chair, stressed after the meeting that VICA is in trouble with the NEA. All the money they give the council is supposed to be exclusively for grants, not for operating expenses, they said.
However, both seemed hopeful that Hansen's statements about helping the beleaguered agency would prove fruitful. Hansen stressed the importance of supporting the grants and promised to do all she can to secure the council's requested FY 2002 appropriation.
In an exception to budget committee procedure, Hansen allowed Clarence Cuthbertson to make a statement to the panel. Cuthbertson, former executive director of the St. Thomas-St. John Arts Council, a not-for-profit, membership-based organization, and current director of the Carabana Ensemble Theater Company on St. John, took issue with VICA's grant appropriations, which he called "too politicized."
Cuthbertson said smaller community groups and companies can't compete effectively for grants with larger entities such as the Reichhold Center for the Arts. "We don't get due process, and we don't get called back after a grant has been declined," he said. He also said VICA didn't pursue available grant money efficiently.
Jowers suggested Cuthbertson resubmit a Carabana grant application in August when all applications are due for grants to be awarded in the next fiscal year. Hansen suggested that Jowers revisit VICA's granting procedures and report back to the committee.
VICA's grants support scores of local organizations, artists and educational institutions throughout the territory, including museums, dance companies, individual artists, schools, folk festivals, summer enrichment programs, art exhibitions and even an "origami for better health" project utilizing the Japanese art of paper folding.
Attending the meeting were six of the seven Finance Committee members: Sens. Hansen, Cole, Donastorg, Douglas Canton, Norma Pickard-Samuel and Norman Jn. Baptiste. Sen. Carlton Dowe was absent.
