Aug. 14, 2003- WTJX-TV and Delegate Donna M. Christensen are teaming up to present a half-hour television program on Sunday evening and again next Thursday on options for the territory in addressing its fiscal crisis and examples of how the District of Columbia dealt with its similar situation several years ago.
"Virgin Islands Fiscal Dilemma: Choices on the Road to Recovery" is the title of the program, which Christensen will host.
She will put questions to Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton of Washington, D.C.; and Larry Wilson of the D.C. accounting firm Thompson, Cobb, Bazilio and Associates about what the district did to get its mismanaged local government out of debt.
A federal control board temporarily took control of the D.C. government in 1995 and oversaw the reform of its financial operations. Holmes Norton and Wilson "were actively involved with helping the District of Columbia come to grips with its financial dilemma, and both actively worked on solutions" that put it on the road to recovery, Christensen said in a release.
She said she believes it will be helpful for Virgin Islanders "to listen to how they approached a similar, though more serious, problem, and how they were able to turn it around."
While the territory has once again found short-term solutions to its immediate fiscal needs, Christensen said that the means to arriving at a long-term fix must be identified. The television program will examine "what the broader issues are, and what we must be prepared to face if we are to put our house in order," she said.
The program is set to air at 6:30 p.m. Sunday and at the same time Aug. 21 on the local PBS channel.
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