Sept. 15, 2005 – Senators voted Friday to increase the Fiscal Year 2007 executive budget by another $1 million – bringing the total amount of appropriations included in the bill up to approximately $829 million.
Most of the adjustments were made to the miscellaneous section of the budget, which totaled nearly $135 million when the bill was originally submitted in May by Gov. Charles W. Turnbull. After going through the budget markup process, which ran from Aug. 24 to Sept 6, the miscellaneous section increased to about $191.4 million (See "New Budget Appropriations a Source of Pride for Senators").
However, senators approved three new amendments during Friday's Rules and Judiciary Committee meeting which changed this section of the budget to approximately $192.1 million. While some of the amendments increased appropriations already included in the bill, others earmark money for new projects, including community programs, repairs and developments.
Other amendments brought forth by Sens. Pedro "Pete" Encarnacion and Terrence Nelson, also increased the operating budgets for the Department of Labor and the Office of the Adjutant General.
Nelson's amendment, which provided Labor with an additional $284,129 for personnel costs, was contested by Sen. Louis P. Hill, who said the department should work on filling its vacancies instead of hiring new employees.
Nelson made his case for the additional funding by explaining that the department's Division of Labor Relations was short-staffed, and lacked the manpower necessary to handle the "backlog" of complaints filed by non-unionized employees.
While Hill said the division did not request the additional personnel when going through the budget process, Nelson said that the department's funding was capped by the Office of Management and Budget – forcing Labor to cut the number of new positions included in its FY 2007 budget request.
"These departments and agencies have an enormous amount of vacancies," Hill said. "That's one of the reasons we specifically did not increase their personnel line items. The funding is there – it's just for the department head to eliminate some of the unnecessary positions, and rearrange things internally. If we're going to create additional personnel for Labor, then we should also delete some of the vacancies they have."
To assuage Hill, Nelson amended his amendment – adding a new section which specifically delineates the new positions and how much each individual would be making. While this seemed to appease many of the other senators, Hill still voted against the measure.
The amendment passed, however, with Sens. Lorraine L. Berry, Encarnacion, Juan Figueroa-Serville, Nelson and Ronald E. Russell voting in favor. The additional money pushed Labor's General Fund budget appropriation up from $5.26 million to approximately $5.5 million.
Encarnacion's amendment, which was unanimously approved by the committee Friday, appropriated an additional $132,000 to the Office of Homeland Security (located under the Office of the Adjutant General) for three additional employees.
With the amendments out of the way, senators moved the executive budget onto the full Senate body for a final vote with a closed rule (meaning the bill cannot be further amended).
Nelson was the only Rules Committee member to vote against the budget.
Senators also amended a separate budget bill, which appropriates money to the Tourism Department from the Tourism Advertisement Revolving Fund. According to Hill, the sponsor of the amendment, the original bill (also submitted in May by Turnbull) did not earmark money for Carnival on both St. Thomas and St. John, or the Crucian Christmas Festival.
Hill's amendment – which was unanimously approved – sets aside $75,000 for St. John's carnival celebration; $300,000 for the V.I. Carnival; and $275,000 for the Crucian Christmas Festival.
Senators additionally approved a bill which transfers $15 million from the Transportation Trust Fund to the General Fund.
All bills approved on Friday were forwarded to the full Senate body for a final vote.
Amendments added to the miscellaneous section of the executive budget:
–appropriate an additional $100,000 to Kidscope Inc;
–appropriate an additional $90,000 to USVI Commission on the Status of Women;
–appropriate an additional $25,000 to an HIV education program sponsored by Housing, Parks and Recreation;
–appropriate $5,000 to the Education Department for the Dominique James Reading Program;
–appropriate $20,000 to Education for the Ricardo Richards Pan Connection;
–appropriate $315,000 to the LaValle Homeowners Association (through Housing, Parks and Recreation) for a recreational facility; and
–appropriate $35,000 to the Department of Planning and Natural Resources for the Althalie McFarlane Petersen Library
Present during Friday's meeting were Berry, Encarnacion, Figueroa-Serville, Hill, Nelson and Russell.
Noncommittee members Sens. Craig W. Barshinger and Liston Davis were also present.
Sen. Roosevelt C. David was absent.
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