Sen. Donna Frett-Gregory, chair of the Committee on Budget, Appropriations, and Finance, had the same message for Department of Planning and Natural Resources Commissioner Jean Pierre Oriol on Tuesday as she has for several agencies appearing before her committee this month: The numbers don’t add up.
Senators refer to three primary documents at a budget hearing. The Post Audit report is prepared in-house for the senators. The Budget Book is prepared by the Governor’s Office. (It can be seen here.) The third document is the written testimony of the agency head.
Senators often base their questions on the Post-Audit report, which usually catches the agency off guard because the agency has not had a chance to review it, only receiving it upon their arrival at the hearing.
Oriol testified that his budget request from the General Fund for personnel would decrease by $1 million; Frett-Gregory said the Budget Book showed a decrease of $800,000 in the request from the General Fund.
She said, “I don’t know what numbers to use.”
Sen. Samuel Carrión said he shared Frett-Gregory’s “sentiments about the discrepancies in the reports.”
Oriol said the department would request a General Fund appropriation of $6.7 million for the fiscal year, a 22 percent decrease from the 2024 appropriation of $8.6 million.
Senate President Novelle Francis asked if most of those cuts were in personnel. Oriol said yes. Francis asked whether that was appropriate, as there were many complaints that the permitting process at DPNR was prolonged. Oriol said the department was able to get more federal funds for employees.
Sen. Diane Capehart, who worked at DPNR for 15 years, said she saw a mass migration of employees from the department and that not enough was being done to keep them or hire new ones. She said she was “very disappointed” with the commissioner’s efforts.
According to Oriol’s testimony, the fiscal year 2025 request from the General Fund includes $4.7 million for personnel and fringe benefits supporting 62 positions, $146,000 for supplies, $1,414,976 for other services and charges, and $489,000 for utilities.
Most of the department’s funding comes from federal awards. For 2025, federal grant funds, according to Oriol, will contribute $49 million or 82 percent of the overall budget. His written testimony said the federal funds would pay $4.8 million in salaries and fringe benefits for 102 positions.
Frett-Gregory calculated that the average salary for those employees was very low. After a couple of false starts, Oriol said the figure should be $6.7 million.
The department is projected to receive non-appropriated (Special) funds of $4.3 million. These funds are derived from fees, fines, and rentals of submerged and filled submerged lands.
Frett-Gregory also expressed concern about the state of the territory’s five libraries. Oriol testified that only two (Florence Williams Public Library on St. Croix and the Elaine Ione Sprauve Library on St. John) are open. Frett-Gregory said she used the library when she was growing up and wanted today’s children to have the same option she had.
Oriol said DPNR was promoting online library resources through Hoopla. Hoopla provides access to over 30,000 titles, 10,000 movies, thousands of online games, and several other resources; all you need to do is have a valid library card from the V.I. Public Library System. Library cards may be applied for at the Fort Christian Museum on St. Thomas and the Florence Williams Public Library on St. Croix.
Sens. Frett-Gregory, Novelle Francis, Marvin Blyden, Diane Capehart, Samuel Carriόn, Dwayne DeGraff, Ray Fonseca, Kenneth Gittens, Javan James, and Franklin D. Johnson attended the hearing.
