July 12, 2005 – The Public Finance Authority Board on Tuesday approved $6.5 million in financing for a fleet of 196 police vehicles for the Virgin Islands Police Department.
Board members Ira Mills, Bernice Turnbull and Gov. Charles Turnbull were present for the meeting, which covered issues that had been continued from last month's meeting. The board also approved funding for the Frederiksted Economic Revitalization Project and for improvements at Ivanna Eudora Kean High School.
The police vehicles are fully equipped, officially marked police operation units, according to Kenneth Mapp, executive director of the PFA. The cost to purchase the vehicles will be $6.5 million dollars over the next three years. That breaks down to roughly $5 million for the cars and $1.2 million for radio communication systems, plus the cost of financing. Maintenance of the vehicles will be done by the government. The financing will be done through Banco Popular at 4 percent a year.
Gov. Turnbull voted to finance the vehicles, Bernice Turnbull and Ira Mills abstained from voting, and the motion passed.
The consideration of financing the $6.7 million Frederiksted Economic Revitalization Project was tabled at the last PFA meeting to allow for discussions between the PFA and officials from the Water and Power Authority and the V.I. Port Authority. Both WAPA and VIPA were financially unable to contribute to the project.
The board voted to ratify what the PFA had already approved in regards to financing the project.
At last month's meeting, the PFA allocated $7.25 million dollars to the Department of Education for capital projects at schools in the territory. Ivanna Eudora Kean High School is the only school that has not been funded. The board agreed to use $1.5 million from the Economic Development Fund for improvements to the high school.
The board then went into executive session to discuss a personnel issue, and the meeting was adjourned.
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