Aug. 21, 2002 – A federal audit has found the Public Works Department has used contract amendments and change orders to circumvent the requirement that contracts for work funded by the Federal Highway Administration be awarded only after a competitive bidding process.
In one case, a contract let in 1993 for construction management and inspection services was extended five times over a period of five years and along the way encompassed work that was not part of the original contract, adding almost $3 million to the original $805,086 contract — a 363 percent increase.
In another case, increases amounted to $1.7 million, 181 percent over the original contract. In that case, cited in the audit released this week by the U.S. Interior Department's Office of the Inspector General, the project was extended for "13 years through three major amendments and a noncompetitive follow-on contract that added many items that were not in the original scope of work."
The original contract, let in 1986 in the amount of $958,841, was for work on Black Point Hill Road, Bolongo Bay Road, and Mandahl Road on St. Thomas. In 1988, $354,368 was added on for engineering services for highway projects on the Long Bay and Frenchman's Bay Roads. A second amendment added $251,742 for more engineering services for the Veterans Drive-Lovers Lane intersection, and Long Bay Road near Yacht Haven, changes prior to design for Bolongo Bay Road and curbs for Centerline Road.
In 1991, five years after the original contract was awarded, another $397,412 was added for work on Race Track Road, Raphune Hill and the intersection of Bolongo Bay Road and Turpentine Run and for an archeological inventory at Long Bay and Frenchman's Bay Roads.
And 13 years later, in 1999, engineering work, storm sewers, the Turpentine Run bridge and a culvert at Mandahl added yet another $729,250.
The audit also found double billings amounting to $457,763. The contractor had charged overhead for things such as travel, rent, utilities, postage, equipment rental and office maintenance — things that were "specifically included in the contract and contract amendment as 'miscellaneous direct non-salary costs' that were directly reimbursed under the contract," the audit said.
Another glaring irregularity was payment for construction and management services equivalent to 50 percent of construction costs, although the industry standard is 3 to 10 percent of construction costs. In 1997, when a Public Works grant manager suggested the contractor be required to provide justification for disputed or disallowed costs, the Public Works commissioner, who is not named in the audit, ordered that all contractor claims be paid.
The report also said non-transportation projects for which federal highway funds were used, such as Buddhoe Park and the Millennium Monument, which cost $1.57 million and $442,568 respectively (increased from the original contracts of $659,111 and $162,323, respectively), should be financed through bond proceeds for capital improvement projects, not soak up much-needed funds earmarked for highway projects.
In response to the add-ons to contracts, Public Works stated, "It is often not in the best interest of the government to request new bids when additional work arises in relation to existing contracts."
But the Inspector General's audit called the add-on and change-order extensions "a questionable business practice" and suggested that Public Works "develop a good working relationship with a number of other highway engineering firms and use the competitive procurement process to encourage those firms to compete against each other to give the government the best possible service at the best possible price."
The audit also suggested that where the same costs were billed twice, the duplicate charges should be collected from the contractor.
Other deficiencies found by the audit:
– Potential savings of about $835,200 were not realized because the government did not ensure that certain provisions for damages were included in and enforced for construction contracts.
– Salary reimbursements were overpaid by $43,913 because vouchers contained errors.
– The Disadvantaged Business Enterprise Program did not meet its objectives because of lack of monitoring staff.
– Federally financed equipment valued at more than $35,000 was not adequately accounted for and safeguarded.
Eleven recommendations were made to the governor. Based on the response by the Public Works commissioner, the Inspector General considers five recommendations resolved but not implemented and four unresolved, with additional information requested for one recommendation.
The governor has until Sept. 30 to respond.
The Federal Highway Administration sends nearly $13 million a year to the territory for constructing, maintaining and repairing public roads in the Virgin Islands.
Publisher's note : Like the St. Croix Source now? Find out how you can love us twice as much — and show your support for the islands' free and independent news voice… click here.
CRUZ BAY WASTE TREATMENT PLANT NOW OFFICIAL
Aug. 21, 2002 – Under broiling Caribbean skies, a slew of dignitaries and a couple of residents gathered on Wednesday to celebrate the completion of the Cruz Bay wastewater treatment plant at a dedication ceremony.
"This facility marks a new beginning," said Jeanne M. Kenny, Region 2 administrator for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
She said the EPA provided $5.7 million for the project. Public Works Department engineer Mirko Restovic said that the remainder of the $8.75 million cost came from bonds floated by the Public Finance Authority.
The plant actually went on-line more than a year ago. While it put an end to most sewage overflows that had plagued the island for years, it also spurred growth in Cruz Bay and its environs, the only area of St. John hooked up to the sewage system. The rest of the island depends on septic tanks.
Before the completion of the plant, neighbors near the old plant at Pond Mouth had to endure noxious odors. And business growth in Cruz Bay was hampered because the old plant could not take on any new customers.
Kenny said the new plant, located adjacent to Enighed Pond, will help the island's economy. The project was carried out in two phases. First Misener Marine completed the ocean outfall portion. Ground was broken in July 1998 for the physical plant, built by RR Construction, with completion scheduled for 1999. There were numerous delays.
"Things always take a lot longer than planned," Restovic said after the ceremony. Ticking off challenges to getting the plant operational, he said the first was simply where to put it.
Sen. Almando "Rocky" Liburd said three sites were explored, with the current site, on land owned by the Port Authority, ultimately considered the best option. "Even this site was controversial," Liburd said.
Another challenge, Restovic said, was to find a design that fit on the site. Island resident Doris Jadan said the building looks like the Taj Mahal to her. But unquestionably the attractive landscaping and the architecturally interesting buildings are an improvement over the derelict cars and other debris that previously crowded the site.
The facility is managed by the St. Thomas-based VIESCO and has one-full time employee on site. VIESCO owner Tom Ryan said two or three people come over from St. Thomas when needed.
Restovic said when the governor's proposed Wastewater Management Authority gets up and running, it will be in charge of the plant instead of the Public Works Department. Assuming that comes to be, he envisions Wastewater Management Authority employees working in conjunction with a contractor to keep the facility running.
At the ceremony, Gov. Charles W. Turnbull noted that it was muy caliente, as he abandoned his prepared speech for extemporaneous remarks. He said Public Works deserved high marks for its efforts to get the new treatment plant operational. "An A or B, you decide," he said to a laughing Public Works Commissioner Wayne Callwood Jr.
Joining Callwood under the awning were several other members of the governor's cabinet and upper ranks of officialdom, along with Delegate Donna M. Christensen, Liburd and Sen. Roosevelt David.
Most of them were on a road trip of sorts, having spent the morning at a similar ceremony to dedicate the Turpentine Run Mangrove Lagoon Wastewater Plant on St. Thomas.
Publisher's note : Like the St. John Source now? Find out how you can love us twice as much — and show your support for the islands' free and independent news voice … click here.
"This facility marks a new beginning," said Jeanne M. Kenny, Region 2 administrator for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
She said the EPA provided $5.7 million for the project. Public Works Department engineer Mirko Restovic said that the remainder of the $8.75 million cost came from bonds floated by the Public Finance Authority.
The plant actually went on-line more than a year ago. While it put an end to most sewage overflows that had plagued the island for years, it also spurred growth in Cruz Bay and its environs, the only area of St. John hooked up to the sewage system. The rest of the island depends on septic tanks.
Before the completion of the plant, neighbors near the old plant at Pond Mouth had to endure noxious odors. And business growth in Cruz Bay was hampered because the old plant could not take on any new customers.
Kenny said the new plant, located adjacent to Enighed Pond, will help the island's economy. The project was carried out in two phases. First Misener Marine completed the ocean outfall portion. Ground was broken in July 1998 for the physical plant, built by RR Construction, with completion scheduled for 1999. There were numerous delays.
"Things always take a lot longer than planned," Restovic said after the ceremony. Ticking off challenges to getting the plant operational, he said the first was simply where to put it.
Sen. Almando "Rocky" Liburd said three sites were explored, with the current site, on land owned by the Port Authority, ultimately considered the best option. "Even this site was controversial," Liburd said.
Another challenge, Restovic said, was to find a design that fit on the site. Island resident Doris Jadan said the building looks like the Taj Mahal to her. But unquestionably the attractive landscaping and the architecturally interesting buildings are an improvement over the derelict cars and other debris that previously crowded the site.
The facility is managed by the St. Thomas-based VIESCO and has one-full time employee on site. VIESCO owner Tom Ryan said two or three people come over from St. Thomas when needed.
Restovic said when the governor's proposed Wastewater Management Authority gets up and running, it will be in charge of the plant instead of the Public Works Department. Assuming that comes to be, he envisions Wastewater Management Authority employees working in conjunction with a contractor to keep the facility running.
At the ceremony, Gov. Charles W. Turnbull noted that it was muy caliente, as he abandoned his prepared speech for extemporaneous remarks. He said Public Works deserved high marks for its efforts to get the new treatment plant operational. "An A or B, you decide," he said to a laughing Public Works Commissioner Wayne Callwood Jr.
Joining Callwood under the awning were several other members of the governor's cabinet and upper ranks of officialdom, along with Delegate Donna M. Christensen, Liburd and Sen. Roosevelt David.
Most of them were on a road trip of sorts, having spent the morning at a similar ceremony to dedicate the Turpentine Run Mangrove Lagoon Wastewater Plant on St. Thomas.
Publisher's note : Like the St. John Source now? Find out how you can love us twice as much — and show your support for the islands' free and independent news voice … click here.
JULIUS SPRAUVE SCHOOL OPENING SCHEDULE
Aug. 21, 2002 – Shirley J. Joseph, principal of the Julius E. Sprauve School, announces the following schedule for the opening of the 2002-2003 school year:
Tuesday, Aug. 27
8:30-10 a.m. Elementary students in grades 2-6 and elementary Special Education students are to report.
10:30 a.m.-noon. Secondary students in grades 7-9 and junior high Special Education students are to report.
Wednesday, Aug. 28
8:15 a.m. Kindergarten and grade 1 students with last names beginning with letters A-M are to report.
Thursday, Aug. 29
8:15 a.m. Kindergarten and grade 1 students with last names beginning with letters N-Z are to report.
The principal also requests that persons interested in becoming a Sprauve School volunteer stop by the principal's office or call the school at 776-6336 and speak with the principal or assistant principal Mario Francis. Volunteers are needed.
Publisher's note : Like the St. John Source now? Find out how you can love us twice as much — and show your support for the islands' free and independent news voice … click here.
Tuesday, Aug. 27
8:30-10 a.m. Elementary students in grades 2-6 and elementary Special Education students are to report.
10:30 a.m.-noon. Secondary students in grades 7-9 and junior high Special Education students are to report.
Wednesday, Aug. 28
8:15 a.m. Kindergarten and grade 1 students with last names beginning with letters A-M are to report.
Thursday, Aug. 29
8:15 a.m. Kindergarten and grade 1 students with last names beginning with letters N-Z are to report.
The principal also requests that persons interested in becoming a Sprauve School volunteer stop by the principal's office or call the school at 776-6336 and speak with the principal or assistant principal Mario Francis. Volunteers are needed.
Publisher's note : Like the St. John Source now? Find out how you can love us twice as much — and show your support for the islands' free and independent news voice … click here.
PLAN TO HAVE WAPA COLLECT 911 FEE RILES CRITICS
Aug. 21, 2002 – Your telephone bill would go down by a dollar but your electric bill would go up by the same amount if legislation Gov. Charles W. Turnbull is proposing becomes law, and in the process the government might wind up getting significantly less money. Or then again, it might not.
Turnbull said on Tuesday that he will submit a bill to the 24th Legislature to transfer responsibility for collection of the territory's $1 monthly emergency services surcharge from Innovative Telephone to the Water and Power Authority.
Innovative, which has been collecting the fee on behalf of the government since April 2000, announced in May that it no longer wanted to do so, saying the surcharge had caused the company nothing but trouble. At that time, Innovative officials suggested that WAPA, being a government agency, could more appropriately collect the fee.
On Wednesday, WAPA board chair Carol Burke was not happy at the news, nor did she like the way WAPA was informed of the governor's decision. "We found out the same way everybody else did" — via a Government House release, she said. "At least, out of courtesy, the board should have been informed," she said. "We have agonized over the street lighting, and then the barge, and now this."
Since last year, when legislation transferred responsibility for the territory's street lighting from the Public Works Department to WAPA, the utility has received no funding to carry out the mandate. Meanwhile, the board has asked the administration to take back a non-functioning onetime U.S. Navy floating desalination plant that also was foisted on the authority earlier this year without a by-your-leave.
"I cannot speak for what is happening with Innovative," Burke said, "but I can speak for how it will impact WAPA. At first blush, it's my estimation that we will have to ask our executive director to do an analysis on the impact it will have on WAPA's operation."
She emphasized, "We're not in the accounting business. This is more of an accounting function. We are not in the communication business; we provide water and power service. We don't know what type of financing mechanism would be involved."
Managing the surcharge could prove difficult, she said: "From an administrative standpoint, billing every customer is not the answer. Some customers have four different phone lines, and electricity in that household could be coming through a person whose name is not the same as the phone subscriber's. Not every WAPA customer is a phone company customer, and likewise every phone customer does not necessarily have his name on a WAPA bill.
"We would have to set up a whole new system to collect from all the phone customers, and that's not what WAPA is in business to do."
WAPA chair: Impact on bond rating a concern
Burke continued, "Our rating agency is looking at all of this, and they are concerned about the extent to which the board has oversight of what the government is arbitrarily doing — how they put these things on WAPA without any prior consideration. These things are intrusive of themselves, and we are trying to retain our bond rating so we can have decent financing to improve the system … This doesn't help at all."
She noted that utility customers complain about WAPA's antiquated machinery, "and we want to get the money to replace the old equipment."
But in the meantime, "We have not received a dime of the money appropriated for the street lighting [$2.8 million the Legislature appropriated for WAPA, overriding Turnbull's veto of the funds]. And now we have had to purchase insurance for the barge sitting in Krum Bay." She said WAPA has received no response from the governor or the Legislature on its request that the government take back the desalination barge.
Turnbull said in the release announcing his plans on Tuesday, "I must emphasize, this is not a new surcharge but simply a change in the collection process from Innovative, a private entity, to the V.I. Water and Power Authority, a government entity."
The governor noted that the Finance Department and the Office of Management and Budget had worked with Innovative to develop the collection protocol. He said the phone company generates monthly reports summarizing the amount of "tax" billed and sends a remittance statement at the end of the month to OMB and Finance giving the amount billed and payable; then, on the 15th of the following month, it pays the government the surcharge amount received.
Senator: Proposal linked to lawsuit, pending audit
Sen. Adlah "Foncie" Donastorg, long a critic of the telephone company's financial operations, has openly accused Innovative of wrongful collection practices and has sued the company on behalf of the people of the territory in District Court. Additionally, on May 1, he announced that he had requested a federal audit of the emergency services surcharge operations and had filed a new complaint with the Public Services Commission, which regulates the phone company.
Donastorg contends that the approximately $60,000 a month Innovative has been turning over to the government does not represent anywhere near the total amount it has collected each month. The amount corresponds roughly to the number of customers, he said, and not "the actual number of telephone lines, which is, by informed estimates, well over 90,000."
At the same time, Donastorg says the intent of the law making Innovative the collector of the surcharge was to impose a fee of $1 per subscriber, regardless of the number of lines that a customer may have, whereas Innovative has in most cases been billing customers $1 per phone line. Many customers have multiple lines — he, himself, having five, and thus having gotten five bills with five surcharges — he notes.
In an April 15 letter making these points to PSC member Jerris T. Browne, Donastorg asked that the PSC "hire a neutral third party to audit Vitelco's records from 1991 to the present time."
Innovative officials have denied Donastorg's charges. They said at a recent PSC meeting that the billing is done electronically and that the government has oversight of the process. Innovative Telephone's parent company, Innovative Communication Corp., has asked the governor to speak out in the company's defense in response to what ICC's vice president for corporate affairs, Holland L. Redfield II, a former senator, termed "attacks, misrepresentations and outright lies regarding the role we play as merely a conduit to collect these monies for the government."
In a release issued on Wednesday, Donastorg termed the governor's plan to transfer the surcharge collection to WAPA "a direct effort to hamper" both his own lawsuit and the federal audit, which he said is scheduled to begin "early next month."
"This legislation is an effort to hold Vitelco [as the local phone company was known until two years ago, when it was renamed Innovative Telephone] harmless for any stealing or skimming of the $1 charge," he said. "Vitelco asked the governor for this as soon as they found out that the Interior Department would be conducting audits."
Saying that he is "deeply disappointed" that the governor "would participate in what is essentially a cover-up," Donastorg added, "We need to allow the auditors to finish their jobs before proposing such changes."
Public record: Innovative at odds with other carriers
Donastorg has had no luck in his efforts to view any of Innovative's financial records submitted to the PSA. Nor has the Source, which submitted a request to the PSC three months ago, stating that the financial reports are public record.
The matter was on the agenda for the PSC's June 21 meeting, where Innovative's attorney objected to making the reports available, arguing that the territory's public records act does not allow access to sensitive financial information and that Innovative had submitted the financial reports to the commission "subject to a demand for confidentiality." The commission postponed acting on the request. (See "Phone company told to produce billing data".)
At the July meeting, the Source request for the financial information was not forthcoming because Innovative's attorney was on vacation, although the Source had been given no notice of this. Keithley Joseph, PSC executive director, said on Wednesday that the next PSC meeting should be in early September; he could not confirm the agenda.
Innovative appears to stand alone, or nearly so, regarding access to the financial reports filed by telephone companies with their regulatory commissions, according to Source research. The press officer at the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissions told reporter David S. North she thought that virtually all states required local phone companies to submit annual financial reports, and that all, or virtually all, of them regarded those reports as public record.
Officials of several state regulatory agencies contacted said annual financial reports are required by law of the phone companies they regulate, and in all but one, Mississippi, the reports in their entirety are public documents.
About a dozen mainland telephone company officials, association representatives and spokespersons for state regulatory commissions approached by the Source all said they had never heard of a local telephone company complaining about collecting and passing on the 911 fees. The Legislature is scheduled to meet in full session on Monday. It is not known whether Turnbull's legislation to transfer the 911 surcharge collection to WAPA will be heard at that time. Calls to Government House on Wednesday morning were not returned.
Publisher's note : Like the St. Croix Source now? Find out how you can love us twice as much — and show your support for the islands' free and independent news voice … click here.
Turnbull said on Tuesday that he will submit a bill to the 24th Legislature to transfer responsibility for collection of the territory's $1 monthly emergency services surcharge from Innovative Telephone to the Water and Power Authority.
Innovative, which has been collecting the fee on behalf of the government since April 2000, announced in May that it no longer wanted to do so, saying the surcharge had caused the company nothing but trouble. At that time, Innovative officials suggested that WAPA, being a government agency, could more appropriately collect the fee.
On Wednesday, WAPA board chair Carol Burke was not happy at the news, nor did she like the way WAPA was informed of the governor's decision. "We found out the same way everybody else did" — via a Government House release, she said. "At least, out of courtesy, the board should have been informed," she said. "We have agonized over the street lighting, and then the barge, and now this."
Since last year, when legislation transferred responsibility for the territory's street lighting from the Public Works Department to WAPA, the utility has received no funding to carry out the mandate. Meanwhile, the board has asked the administration to take back a non-functioning onetime U.S. Navy floating desalination plant that also was foisted on the authority earlier this year without a by-your-leave.
"I cannot speak for what is happening with Innovative," Burke said, "but I can speak for how it will impact WAPA. At first blush, it's my estimation that we will have to ask our executive director to do an analysis on the impact it will have on WAPA's operation."
She emphasized, "We're not in the accounting business. This is more of an accounting function. We are not in the communication business; we provide water and power service. We don't know what type of financing mechanism would be involved."
Managing the surcharge could prove difficult, she said: "From an administrative standpoint, billing every customer is not the answer. Some customers have four different phone lines, and electricity in that household could be coming through a person whose name is not the same as the phone subscriber's. Not every WAPA customer is a phone company customer, and likewise every phone customer does not necessarily have his name on a WAPA bill.
"We would have to set up a whole new system to collect from all the phone customers, and that's not what WAPA is in business to do."
WAPA chair: Impact on bond rating a concern
Burke continued, "Our rating agency is looking at all of this, and they are concerned about the extent to which the board has oversight of what the government is arbitrarily doing — how they put these things on WAPA without any prior consideration. These things are intrusive of themselves, and we are trying to retain our bond rating so we can have decent financing to improve the system … This doesn't help at all."
She noted that utility customers complain about WAPA's antiquated machinery, "and we want to get the money to replace the old equipment."
But in the meantime, "We have not received a dime of the money appropriated for the street lighting [$2.8 million the Legislature appropriated for WAPA, overriding Turnbull's veto of the funds]. And now we have had to purchase insurance for the barge sitting in Krum Bay." She said WAPA has received no response from the governor or the Legislature on its request that the government take back the desalination barge.
Turnbull said in the release announcing his plans on Tuesday, "I must emphasize, this is not a new surcharge but simply a change in the collection process from Innovative, a private entity, to the V.I. Water and Power Authority, a government entity."
The governor noted that the Finance Department and the Office of Management and Budget had worked with Innovative to develop the collection protocol. He said the phone company generates monthly reports summarizing the amount of "tax" billed and sends a remittance statement at the end of the month to OMB and Finance giving the amount billed and payable; then, on the 15th of the following month, it pays the government the surcharge amount received.
Senator: Proposal linked to lawsuit, pending audit
Sen. Adlah "Foncie" Donastorg, long a critic of the telephone company's financial operations, has openly accused Innovative of wrongful collection practices and has sued the company on behalf of the people of the territory in District Court. Additionally, on May 1, he announced that he had requested a federal audit of the emergency services surcharge operations and had filed a new complaint with the Public Services Commission, which regulates the phone company.
Donastorg contends that the approximately $60,000 a month Innovative has been turning over to the government does not represent anywhere near the total amount it has collected each month. The amount corresponds roughly to the number of customers, he said, and not "the actual number of telephone lines, which is, by informed estimates, well over 90,000."
At the same time, Donastorg says the intent of the law making Innovative the collector of the surcharge was to impose a fee of $1 per subscriber, regardless of the number of lines that a customer may have, whereas Innovative has in most cases been billing customers $1 per phone line. Many customers have multiple lines — he, himself, having five, and thus having gotten five bills with five surcharges — he notes.
In an April 15 letter making these points to PSC member Jerris T. Browne, Donastorg asked that the PSC "hire a neutral third party to audit Vitelco's records from 1991 to the present time."
Innovative officials have denied Donastorg's charges. They said at a recent PSC meeting that the billing is done electronically and that the government has oversight of the process. Innovative Telephone's parent company, Innovative Communication Corp., has asked the governor to speak out in the company's defense in response to what ICC's vice president for corporate affairs, Holland L. Redfield II, a former senator, termed "attacks, misrepresentations and outright lies regarding the role we play as merely a conduit to collect these monies for the government."
In a release issued on Wednesday, Donastorg termed the governor's plan to transfer the surcharge collection to WAPA "a direct effort to hamper" both his own lawsuit and the federal audit, which he said is scheduled to begin "early next month."
"This legislation is an effort to hold Vitelco [as the local phone company was known until two years ago, when it was renamed Innovative Telephone] harmless for any stealing or skimming of the $1 charge," he said. "Vitelco asked the governor for this as soon as they found out that the Interior Department would be conducting audits."
Saying that he is "deeply disappointed" that the governor "would participate in what is essentially a cover-up," Donastorg added, "We need to allow the auditors to finish their jobs before proposing such changes."
Public record: Innovative at odds with other carriers
Donastorg has had no luck in his efforts to view any of Innovative's financial records submitted to the PSA. Nor has the Source, which submitted a request to the PSC three months ago, stating that the financial reports are public record.
The matter was on the agenda for the PSC's June 21 meeting, where Innovative's attorney objected to making the reports available, arguing that the territory's public records act does not allow access to sensitive financial information and that Innovative had submitted the financial reports to the commission "subject to a demand for confidentiality." The commission postponed acting on the request. (See "Phone company told to produce billing data".)
At the July meeting, the Source request for the financial information was not forthcoming because Innovative's attorney was on vacation, although the Source had been given no notice of this. Keithley Joseph, PSC executive director, said on Wednesday that the next PSC meeting should be in early September; he could not confirm the agenda.
Innovative appears to stand alone, or nearly so, regarding access to the financial reports filed by telephone companies with their regulatory commissions, according to Source research. The press officer at the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissions told reporter David S. North she thought that virtually all states required local phone companies to submit annual financial reports, and that all, or virtually all, of them regarded those reports as public record.
Officials of several state regulatory agencies contacted said annual financial reports are required by law of the phone companies they regulate, and in all but one, Mississippi, the reports in their entirety are public documents.
About a dozen mainland telephone company officials, association representatives and spokespersons for state regulatory commissions approached by the Source all said they had never heard of a local telephone company complaining about collecting and passing on the 911 fees. The Legislature is scheduled to meet in full session on Monday. It is not known whether Turnbull's legislation to transfer the 911 surcharge collection to WAPA will be heard at that time. Calls to Government House on Wednesday morning were not returned.
Publisher's note : Like the St. Croix Source now? Find out how you can love us twice as much — and show your support for the islands' free and independent news voice … click here.
PLAN TO HAVE WAPA COLLECT 911 FEE RILES CRITICS
Aug. 21, 2002 – Your telephone bill would go down by a dollar but your electric bill would go up by the same amount if legislation Gov. Charles W. Turnbull is proposing becomes law, and in the process the government might wind up getting significantly less money. Or then again, it might not.
Turnbull said on Tuesday that he will submit a bill to the 24th Legislature to transfer responsibility for collection of the territory's $1 monthly emergency services surcharge from Innovative Telephone to the Water and Power Authority.
Innovative, which has been collecting the fee on behalf of the government since April 2000, announced in May that it no longer wanted to do so, saying the surcharge had caused the company nothing but trouble. At that time, Innovative officials suggested that WAPA, being a government agency, could more appropriately collect the fee.
On Wednesday, WAPA board chair Carol Burke was not happy at the news, nor did she like the way WAPA was informed of the governor's decision. "We found out the same way everybody else did" — via a Government House release, she said. "At least, out of courtesy, the board should have been informed," she said. "We have agonized over the street lighting, and then the barge, and now this."
Since last year, when legislation transferred responsibility for the territory's street lighting from the Public Works Department to WAPA, the utility has received no funding to carry out the mandate. Meanwhile, the board has asked the administration to take back a non-functioning onetime U.S. Navy floating desalination plant that also was foisted on the authority earlier this year without a by-your-leave.
"I cannot speak for what is happening with Innovative," Burke said, "but I can speak for how it will impact WAPA. At first blush, it's my estimation that we will have to ask our executive director to do an analysis on the impact it will have on WAPA's operation."
She emphasized, "We're not in the accounting business. This is more of an accounting function. We are not in the communication business; we provide water and power service. We don't know what type of financing mechanism would be involved."
Managing the surcharge could prove difficult, she said: "From an administrative standpoint, billing every customer is not the answer. Some customers have four different phone lines, and electricity in that household could be coming through a person whose name is not the same as the phone subscriber's. Not every WAPA customer is a phone company customer, and likewise every phone customer does not necessarily have his name on a WAPA bill.
"We would have to set up a whole new system to collect from all the phone customers, and that's not what WAPA is in business to do."
WAPA chair: Impact on bond rating a concern
Burke continued, "Our rating agency is looking at all of this, and they are concerned about the extent to which the board has oversight of what the government is arbitrarily doing — how they put these things on WAPA without any prior consideration. These things are intrusive of themselves, and we are trying to retain our bond rating so we can have decent financing to improve the system … This doesn't help at all."
She noted that utility customers complain about WAPA's antiquated machinery, "and we want to get the money to replace the old equipment."
But in the meantime, "We have not received a dime of the money appropriated for the street lighting [$2.8 million the Legislature appropriated for WAPA, overriding Turnbull's veto of the funds]. And now we have had to purchase insurance for the barge sitting in Krum Bay." She said WAPA has received no response from the governor or the Legislature on its request that the government take back the desalination barge.
Turnbull said in the release announcing his plans on Tuesday, "I must emphasize, this is not a new surcharge but simply a change in the collection process from Innovative, a private entity, to the V.I. Water and Power Authority, a government entity."
The governor noted that the Finance Department and the Office of Management and Budget had worked with Innovative to develop the collection protocol. He said the phone company generates monthly reports summarizing the amount of "tax" billed and sends a remittance statement at the end of the month to OMB and Finance giving the amount billed and payable; then, on the 15th of the following month, it pays the government the surcharge amount received.
Senator: Proposal linked to lawsuit, pending audit
Sen. Adlah "Foncie" Donastorg, long a critic of the telephone company's financial operations, has openly accused Innovative of wrongful collection practices and has sued the company on behalf of the people of the territory in District Court. Additionally, on May 1, he announced that he had requested a federal audit of the emergency services surcharge operations and had filed a new complaint with the Public Services Commission, which regulates the phone company.
Donastorg contends that the approximately $60,000 a month Innovative has been turning over to the government does not represent anywhere near the total amount it has collected each month. The amount corresponds roughly to the number of customers, he said, and not "the actual number of telephone lines, which is, by informed estimates, well over 90,000."
At the same time, Donastorg says the intent of the law making Innovative the collector of the surcharge was to impose a fee of $1 per subscriber, regardless of the number of lines that a customer may have, whereas Innovative has in most cases been billing customers $1 per phone line. Many customers have multiple lines — he, himself, having five, and thus having gotten five bills with five surcharges — he notes.
In an April 15 letter making these points to PSC member Jerris T. Browne, Donastorg asked that the PSC "hire a neutral third party to audit Vitelco's records from 1991 to the present time."
Innovative officials have denied Donastorg's charges. They said at a recent PSC meeting that the billing is done electronically and that the government has oversight of the process. Innovative Telephone's parent company, Innovative Communication Corp., has asked the governor to speak out in the company's defense in response to what ICC's vice president for corporate affairs, Holland L. Redfield II, a former senator, termed "attacks, misrepresentations and outright lies regarding the role we play as merely a conduit to collect these monies for the government."
In a release issued on Wednesday, Donastorg termed the governor's plan to transfer the surcharge collection to WAPA "a direct effort to hamper" both his own lawsuit and the federal audit, which he said is scheduled to begin "early next month."
"This legislation is an effort to hold Vitelco [as the local phone company was known until two years ago, when it was renamed Innovative Telephone] harmless for any stealing or skimming of the $1 charge," he said. "Vitelco asked the governor for this as soon as they found out that the Interior Department would be conducting audits."
Saying that he is "deeply disappointed" that the governor "would participate in what is essentially a cover-up," Donastorg added, "We need to allow the auditors to finish their jobs before proposing such changes."
Public record: Innovative at odds with other carriers
Donastorg has had no luck in his efforts to view any of Innovative's financial records submitted to the PSA. Nor has the Source, which submitted a request to the PSC three months ago, stating that the financial reports are public record.
The matter was on the agenda for the PSC's June 21 meeting, where Innovative's attorney objected to making the reports available, arguing that the territory's public records act does not allow access to sensitive financial information and that Innovative had submitted the financial reports to the commission "subject to a demand for confidentiality." The commission postponed acting on the request. (See "Phone company told to produce billing data".)
At the July meeting, the Source request for the financial information was not forthcoming because Innovative's attorney was on vacation, although the Source had been given no notice of this. Keithley Joseph, PSC executive director, said on Wednesday that the next PSC meeting should be in early September; he could not confirm the agenda.
Innovative appears to stand alone, or nearly so, regarding access to the financial reports filed by telephone companies with their regulatory commissions, according to Source research. The press officer at the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissions told reporter David S. North she thought that virtually all states required local phone companies to submit annual financial reports, and that all, or virtually all, of them regarded those reports as public record.
Officials of several state regulatory agencies contacted said annual financial reports are required by law of the phone companies they regulate, and in all but one, Mississippi, the reports in their entirety are public documents.
About a dozen mainland telephone company officials, association representatives and spokespersons for state regulatory commissions approached by the Source all said they had never heard of a local telephone company complaining about collecting and passing on the 911 fees. The Legislature is scheduled to meet in full session on Monday. It is not known whether Turnbull's legislation to transfer the 911 surcharge collection to WAPA will be heard at that time. Calls to Government House on Wednesday morning were not returned.
Publisher's note : Like the St. John Source now? Find out how you can love us twice as much — and show your support for the islands' free and independent news voice … click here.
Turnbull said on Tuesday that he will submit a bill to the 24th Legislature to transfer responsibility for collection of the territory's $1 monthly emergency services surcharge from Innovative Telephone to the Water and Power Authority.
Innovative, which has been collecting the fee on behalf of the government since April 2000, announced in May that it no longer wanted to do so, saying the surcharge had caused the company nothing but trouble. At that time, Innovative officials suggested that WAPA, being a government agency, could more appropriately collect the fee.
On Wednesday, WAPA board chair Carol Burke was not happy at the news, nor did she like the way WAPA was informed of the governor's decision. "We found out the same way everybody else did" — via a Government House release, she said. "At least, out of courtesy, the board should have been informed," she said. "We have agonized over the street lighting, and then the barge, and now this."
Since last year, when legislation transferred responsibility for the territory's street lighting from the Public Works Department to WAPA, the utility has received no funding to carry out the mandate. Meanwhile, the board has asked the administration to take back a non-functioning onetime U.S. Navy floating desalination plant that also was foisted on the authority earlier this year without a by-your-leave.
"I cannot speak for what is happening with Innovative," Burke said, "but I can speak for how it will impact WAPA. At first blush, it's my estimation that we will have to ask our executive director to do an analysis on the impact it will have on WAPA's operation."
She emphasized, "We're not in the accounting business. This is more of an accounting function. We are not in the communication business; we provide water and power service. We don't know what type of financing mechanism would be involved."
Managing the surcharge could prove difficult, she said: "From an administrative standpoint, billing every customer is not the answer. Some customers have four different phone lines, and electricity in that household could be coming through a person whose name is not the same as the phone subscriber's. Not every WAPA customer is a phone company customer, and likewise every phone customer does not necessarily have his name on a WAPA bill.
"We would have to set up a whole new system to collect from all the phone customers, and that's not what WAPA is in business to do."
WAPA chair: Impact on bond rating a concern
Burke continued, "Our rating agency is looking at all of this, and they are concerned about the extent to which the board has oversight of what the government is arbitrarily doing — how they put these things on WAPA without any prior consideration. These things are intrusive of themselves, and we are trying to retain our bond rating so we can have decent financing to improve the system … This doesn't help at all."
She noted that utility customers complain about WAPA's antiquated machinery, "and we want to get the money to replace the old equipment."
But in the meantime, "We have not received a dime of the money appropriated for the street lighting [$2.8 million the Legislature appropriated for WAPA, overriding Turnbull's veto of the funds]. And now we have had to purchase insurance for the barge sitting in Krum Bay." She said WAPA has received no response from the governor or the Legislature on its request that the government take back the desalination barge.
Turnbull said in the release announcing his plans on Tuesday, "I must emphasize, this is not a new surcharge but simply a change in the collection process from Innovative, a private entity, to the V.I. Water and Power Authority, a government entity."
The governor noted that the Finance Department and the Office of Management and Budget had worked with Innovative to develop the collection protocol. He said the phone company generates monthly reports summarizing the amount of "tax" billed and sends a remittance statement at the end of the month to OMB and Finance giving the amount billed and payable; then, on the 15th of the following month, it pays the government the surcharge amount received.
Senator: Proposal linked to lawsuit, pending audit
Sen. Adlah "Foncie" Donastorg, long a critic of the telephone company's financial operations, has openly accused Innovative of wrongful collection practices and has sued the company on behalf of the people of the territory in District Court. Additionally, on May 1, he announced that he had requested a federal audit of the emergency services surcharge operations and had filed a new complaint with the Public Services Commission, which regulates the phone company.
Donastorg contends that the approximately $60,000 a month Innovative has been turning over to the government does not represent anywhere near the total amount it has collected each month. The amount corresponds roughly to the number of customers, he said, and not "the actual number of telephone lines, which is, by informed estimates, well over 90,000."
At the same time, Donastorg says the intent of the law making Innovative the collector of the surcharge was to impose a fee of $1 per subscriber, regardless of the number of lines that a customer may have, whereas Innovative has in most cases been billing customers $1 per phone line. Many customers have multiple lines — he, himself, having five, and thus having gotten five bills with five surcharges — he notes.
In an April 15 letter making these points to PSC member Jerris T. Browne, Donastorg asked that the PSC "hire a neutral third party to audit Vitelco's records from 1991 to the present time."
Innovative officials have denied Donastorg's charges. They said at a recent PSC meeting that the billing is done electronically and that the government has oversight of the process. Innovative Telephone's parent company, Innovative Communication Corp., has asked the governor to speak out in the company's defense in response to what ICC's vice president for corporate affairs, Holland L. Redfield II, a former senator, termed "attacks, misrepresentations and outright lies regarding the role we play as merely a conduit to collect these monies for the government."
In a release issued on Wednesday, Donastorg termed the governor's plan to transfer the surcharge collection to WAPA "a direct effort to hamper" both his own lawsuit and the federal audit, which he said is scheduled to begin "early next month."
"This legislation is an effort to hold Vitelco [as the local phone company was known until two years ago, when it was renamed Innovative Telephone] harmless for any stealing or skimming of the $1 charge," he said. "Vitelco asked the governor for this as soon as they found out that the Interior Department would be conducting audits."
Saying that he is "deeply disappointed" that the governor "would participate in what is essentially a cover-up," Donastorg added, "We need to allow the auditors to finish their jobs before proposing such changes."
Public record: Innovative at odds with other carriers
Donastorg has had no luck in his efforts to view any of Innovative's financial records submitted to the PSA. Nor has the Source, which submitted a request to the PSC three months ago, stating that the financial reports are public record.
The matter was on the agenda for the PSC's June 21 meeting, where Innovative's attorney objected to making the reports available, arguing that the territory's public records act does not allow access to sensitive financial information and that Innovative had submitted the financial reports to the commission "subject to a demand for confidentiality." The commission postponed acting on the request. (See "Phone company told to produce billing data".)
At the July meeting, the Source request for the financial information was not forthcoming because Innovative's attorney was on vacation, although the Source had been given no notice of this. Keithley Joseph, PSC executive director, said on Wednesday that the next PSC meeting should be in early September; he could not confirm the agenda.
Innovative appears to stand alone, or nearly so, regarding access to the financial reports filed by telephone companies with their regulatory commissions, according to Source research. The press officer at the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissions told reporter David S. North she thought that virtually all states required local phone companies to submit annual financial reports, and that all, or virtually all, of them regarded those reports as public record.
Officials of several state regulatory agencies contacted said annual financial reports are required by law of the phone companies they regulate, and in all but one, Mississippi, the reports in their entirety are public documents.
About a dozen mainland telephone company officials, association representatives and spokespersons for state regulatory commissions approached by the Source all said they had never heard of a local telephone company complaining about collecting and passing on the 911 fees. The Legislature is scheduled to meet in full session on Monday. It is not known whether Turnbull's legislation to transfer the 911 surcharge collection to WAPA will be heard at that time. Calls to Government House on Wednesday morning were not returned.
Publisher's note : Like the St. John Source now? Find out how you can love us twice as much — and show your support for the islands' free and independent news voice … click here.
PLAN TO HAVE WAPA COLLECT 911 FEE RILES CRITICS
Aug. 21, 2002 – Your telephone bill would go down by a dollar but your electric bill would go up by the same amount if legislation Gov. Charles W. Turnbull is proposing becomes law, and in the process the government might wind up getting significantly less money. Or then again, it might not.
Turnbull said on Tuesday that he will submit a bill to the 24th Legislature to transfer responsibility for collection of the territory's $1 monthly emergency services surcharge from Innovative Telephone to the Water and Power Authority.
Innovative, which has been collecting the fee on behalf of the government since April 2000, announced in May that it no longer wanted to do so, saying the surcharge had caused the company nothing but trouble. At that time, Innovative officials suggested that WAPA, being a government agency, could more appropriately collect the fee.
On Wednesday, WAPA board chair Carol Burke was not happy at the news, nor did she like the way WAPA was informed of the governor's decision. "We found out the same way everybody else did" — via a Government House release, she said. "At least, out of courtesy, the board should have been informed," she said. "We have agonized over the street lighting, and then the barge, and now this."
Since last year, when legislation transferred responsibility for the territory's street lighting from the Public Works Department to WAPA, the utility has received no funding to carry out the mandate. Meanwhile, the board has asked the administration to take back a non-functioning onetime U.S. Navy floating desalination plant that also was foisted on the authority earlier this year without a by-your-leave.
"I cannot speak for what is happening with Innovative," Burke said, "but I can speak for how it will impact WAPA. At first blush, it's my estimation that we will have to ask our executive director to do an analysis on the impact it will have on WAPA's operation."
She emphasized, "We're not in the accounting business. This is more of an accounting function. We are not in the communication business; we provide water and power service. We don't know what type of financing mechanism would be involved."
Managing the surcharge could prove difficult, she said: "From an administrative standpoint, billing every customer is not the answer. Some customers have four different phone lines, and electricity in that household could be coming through a person whose name is not the same as the phone subscriber's. Not every WAPA customer is a phone company customer, and likewise every phone customer does not necessarily have his name on a WAPA bill.
"We would have to set up a whole new system to collect from all the phone customers, and that's not what WAPA is in business to do."
WAPA chair: Impact on bond rating a concern
Burke continued, "Our rating agency is looking at all of this, and they are concerned about the extent to which the board has oversight of what the government is arbitrarily doing — how they put these things on WAPA without any prior consideration. These things are intrusive of themselves, and we are trying to retain our bond rating so we can have decent financing to improve the system … This doesn't help at all."
She noted that utility customers complain about WAPA's antiquated machinery, "and we want to get the money to replace the old equipment."
But in the meantime, "We have not received a dime of the money appropriated for the street lighting [$2.8 million the Legislature appropriated for WAPA, overriding Turnbull's veto of the funds]. And now we have had to purchase insurance for the barge sitting in Krum Bay." She said WAPA has received no response from the governor or the Legislature on its request that the government take back the desalination barge.
Turnbull said in the release announcing his plans on Tuesday, "I must emphasize, this is not a new surcharge but simply a change in the collection process from Innovative, a private entity, to the V.I. Water and Power Authority, a government entity."
The governor noted that the Finance Department and the Office of Management and Budget had worked with Innovative to develop the collection protocol. He said the phone company generates monthly reports summarizing the amount of "tax" billed and sends a remittance statement at the end of the month to OMB and Finance giving the amount billed and payable; then, on the 15th of the following month, it pays the government the surcharge amount received.
Senator: Proposal linked to lawsuit, pending audit
Sen. Adlah "Foncie" Donastorg, long a critic of the telephone company's financial operations, has openly accused Innovative of wrongful collection practices and has sued the company on behalf of the people of the territory in District Court. Additionally, on May 1, he announced that he had requested a federal audit of the emergency services surcharge operations and had filed a new complaint with the Public Services Commission, which regulates the phone company.
Donastorg contends that the approximately $60,000 a month Innovative has been turning over to the government does not represent anywhere near the total amount it has collected each month. The amount corresponds roughly to the number of customers, he said, and not "the actual number of telephone lines, which is, by informed estimates, well over 90,000."
At the same time, Donastorg says the intent of the law making Innovative the collector of the surcharge was to impose a fee of $1 per subscriber, regardless of the number of lines that a customer may have, whereas Innovative has in most cases been billing customers $1 per phone line. Many customers have multiple lines — he, himself, having five, and thus having gotten five bills with five surcharges — he notes.
In an April 15 letter making these points to PSC member Jerris T. Browne, Donastorg asked that the PSC "hire a neutral third party to audit Vitelco's records from 1991 to the present time."
Innovative officials have denied Donastorg's charges. They said at a recent PSC meeting that the billing is done electronically and that the government has oversight of the process. Innovative Telephone's parent company, Innovative Communication Corp., has asked the governor to speak out in the company's defense in response to what ICC's vice president for corporate affairs, Holland L. Redfield II, a former senator, termed "attacks, misrepresentations and outright lies regarding the role we play as merely a conduit to collect these monies for the government."
In a release issued on Wednesday, Donastorg termed the governor's plan to transfer the surcharge collection to WAPA "a direct effort to hamper" both his own lawsuit and the federal audit, which he said is scheduled to begin "early next month."
"This legislation is an effort to hold Vitelco [as the local phone company was known until two years ago, when it was renamed Innovative Telephone] harmless for any stealing or skimming of the $1 charge," he said. "Vitelco asked the governor for this as soon as they found out that the Interior Department would be conducting audits."
Saying that he is "deeply disappointed" that the governor "would participate in what is essentially a cover-up," Donastorg added, "We need to allow the auditors to finish their jobs before proposing such changes."
Public record: Innovative at odds with other carriers
Donastorg has had no luck in his efforts to view any of Innovative's financial records submitted to the PSA. Nor has the Source, which submitted a request to the PSC three months ago, stating that the financial reports are public record.
The matter was on the agenda for the PSC's June 21 meeting, where Innovative's attorney objected to making the reports available, arguing that the territory's public records act does not allow access to sensitive financial information and that Innovative had submitted the financial reports to the commission "subject to a demand for confidentiality." The commission postponed acting on the request. (See "Phone company told to produce billing data".)
At the July meeting, the Source request for the financial information was not forthcoming because Innovative's attorney was on vacation, although the Source had been given no notice of this. Keithley Joseph, PSC executive director, said on Wednesday that the next PSC meeting should be in early September; he could not confirm the agenda.
Innovative appears to stand alone, or nearly so, regarding access to the financial reports filed by telephone companies with their regulatory commissions, according to Source research. The press officer at the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissions told reporter David S. North she thought that virtually all states required local phone companies to submit annual financial reports, and that all, or virtually all, of them regarded those reports as public record.
Officials of several state regulatory agencies contacted said annual financial reports are required by law of the phone companies they regulate, and in all but one, Mississippi, the reports in their entirety are public documents.
About a dozen mainland telephone company officials, association representatives and spokespersons for state regulatory commissions approached by the Source all said they had never heard of a local telephone company complaining about collecting and passing on the 911 fees. The Legislature is scheduled to meet in full session on Monday. It is not known whether Turnbull's legislation to transfer the 911 surcharge collection to WAPA will be heard at that time. Calls to Government House on Wednesday morning were not returned.
Publisher's note : Like the St. Thomas Source now? Find out how you can love us twice as much — and show your support for the islands' free and independent news voice … click here.
Turnbull said on Tuesday that he will submit a bill to the 24th Legislature to transfer responsibility for collection of the territory's $1 monthly emergency services surcharge from Innovative Telephone to the Water and Power Authority.
Innovative, which has been collecting the fee on behalf of the government since April 2000, announced in May that it no longer wanted to do so, saying the surcharge had caused the company nothing but trouble. At that time, Innovative officials suggested that WAPA, being a government agency, could more appropriately collect the fee.
On Wednesday, WAPA board chair Carol Burke was not happy at the news, nor did she like the way WAPA was informed of the governor's decision. "We found out the same way everybody else did" — via a Government House release, she said. "At least, out of courtesy, the board should have been informed," she said. "We have agonized over the street lighting, and then the barge, and now this."
Since last year, when legislation transferred responsibility for the territory's street lighting from the Public Works Department to WAPA, the utility has received no funding to carry out the mandate. Meanwhile, the board has asked the administration to take back a non-functioning onetime U.S. Navy floating desalination plant that also was foisted on the authority earlier this year without a by-your-leave.
"I cannot speak for what is happening with Innovative," Burke said, "but I can speak for how it will impact WAPA. At first blush, it's my estimation that we will have to ask our executive director to do an analysis on the impact it will have on WAPA's operation."
She emphasized, "We're not in the accounting business. This is more of an accounting function. We are not in the communication business; we provide water and power service. We don't know what type of financing mechanism would be involved."
Managing the surcharge could prove difficult, she said: "From an administrative standpoint, billing every customer is not the answer. Some customers have four different phone lines, and electricity in that household could be coming through a person whose name is not the same as the phone subscriber's. Not every WAPA customer is a phone company customer, and likewise every phone customer does not necessarily have his name on a WAPA bill.
"We would have to set up a whole new system to collect from all the phone customers, and that's not what WAPA is in business to do."
WAPA chair: Impact on bond rating a concern
Burke continued, "Our rating agency is looking at all of this, and they are concerned about the extent to which the board has oversight of what the government is arbitrarily doing — how they put these things on WAPA without any prior consideration. These things are intrusive of themselves, and we are trying to retain our bond rating so we can have decent financing to improve the system … This doesn't help at all."
She noted that utility customers complain about WAPA's antiquated machinery, "and we want to get the money to replace the old equipment."
But in the meantime, "We have not received a dime of the money appropriated for the street lighting [$2.8 million the Legislature appropriated for WAPA, overriding Turnbull's veto of the funds]. And now we have had to purchase insurance for the barge sitting in Krum Bay." She said WAPA has received no response from the governor or the Legislature on its request that the government take back the desalination barge.
Turnbull said in the release announcing his plans on Tuesday, "I must emphasize, this is not a new surcharge but simply a change in the collection process from Innovative, a private entity, to the V.I. Water and Power Authority, a government entity."
The governor noted that the Finance Department and the Office of Management and Budget had worked with Innovative to develop the collection protocol. He said the phone company generates monthly reports summarizing the amount of "tax" billed and sends a remittance statement at the end of the month to OMB and Finance giving the amount billed and payable; then, on the 15th of the following month, it pays the government the surcharge amount received.
Senator: Proposal linked to lawsuit, pending audit
Sen. Adlah "Foncie" Donastorg, long a critic of the telephone company's financial operations, has openly accused Innovative of wrongful collection practices and has sued the company on behalf of the people of the territory in District Court. Additionally, on May 1, he announced that he had requested a federal audit of the emergency services surcharge operations and had filed a new complaint with the Public Services Commission, which regulates the phone company.
Donastorg contends that the approximately $60,000 a month Innovative has been turning over to the government does not represent anywhere near the total amount it has collected each month. The amount corresponds roughly to the number of customers, he said, and not "the actual number of telephone lines, which is, by informed estimates, well over 90,000."
At the same time, Donastorg says the intent of the law making Innovative the collector of the surcharge was to impose a fee of $1 per subscriber, regardless of the number of lines that a customer may have, whereas Innovative has in most cases been billing customers $1 per phone line. Many customers have multiple lines — he, himself, having five, and thus having gotten five bills with five surcharges — he notes.
In an April 15 letter making these points to PSC member Jerris T. Browne, Donastorg asked that the PSC "hire a neutral third party to audit Vitelco's records from 1991 to the present time."
Innovative officials have denied Donastorg's charges. They said at a recent PSC meeting that the billing is done electronically and that the government has oversight of the process. Innovative Telephone's parent company, Innovative Communication Corp., has asked the governor to speak out in the company's defense in response to what ICC's vice president for corporate affairs, Holland L. Redfield II, a former senator, termed "attacks, misrepresentations and outright lies regarding the role we play as merely a conduit to collect these monies for the government."
In a release issued on Wednesday, Donastorg termed the governor's plan to transfer the surcharge collection to WAPA "a direct effort to hamper" both his own lawsuit and the federal audit, which he said is scheduled to begin "early next month."
"This legislation is an effort to hold Vitelco [as the local phone company was known until two years ago, when it was renamed Innovative Telephone] harmless for any stealing or skimming of the $1 charge," he said. "Vitelco asked the governor for this as soon as they found out that the Interior Department would be conducting audits."
Saying that he is "deeply disappointed" that the governor "would participate in what is essentially a cover-up," Donastorg added, "We need to allow the auditors to finish their jobs before proposing such changes."
Public record: Innovative at odds with other carriers
Donastorg has had no luck in his efforts to view any of Innovative's financial records submitted to the PSA. Nor has the Source, which submitted a request to the PSC three months ago, stating that the financial reports are public record.
The matter was on the agenda for the PSC's June 21 meeting, where Innovative's attorney objected to making the reports available, arguing that the territory's public records act does not allow access to sensitive financial information and that Innovative had submitted the financial reports to the commission "subject to a demand for confidentiality." The commission postponed acting on the request. (See "Phone company told to produce billing data".)
At the July meeting, the Source request for the financial information was not forthcoming because Innovative's attorney was on vacation, although the Source had been given no notice of this. Keithley Joseph, PSC executive director, said on Wednesday that the next PSC meeting should be in early September; he could not confirm the agenda.
Innovative appears to stand alone, or nearly so, regarding access to the financial reports filed by telephone companies with their regulatory commissions, according to Source research. The press officer at the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissions told reporter David S. North she thought that virtually all states required local phone companies to submit annual financial reports, and that all, or virtually all, of them regarded those reports as public record.
Officials of several state regulatory agencies contacted said annual financial reports are required by law of the phone companies they regulate, and in all but one, Mississippi, the reports in their entirety are public documents.
About a dozen mainland telephone company officials, association representatives and spokespersons for state regulatory commissions approached by the Source all said they had never heard of a local telephone company complaining about collecting and passing on the 911 fees. The Legislature is scheduled to meet in full session on Monday. It is not known whether Turnbull's legislation to transfer the 911 surcharge collection to WAPA will be heard at that time. Calls to Government House on Wednesday morning were not returned.
Publisher's note : Like the St. Thomas Source now? Find out how you can love us twice as much — and show your support for the islands' free and independent news voice … click here.
LOW-INCOME FAMILIES CAN GET FREE STORM SUPPLIES
Aug. 20, 2002 – Families living on fixed or low incomes will be able to take advantage of a donation of hurricane supplies made to the V.I. government by PriceSmart on St. Thomas.
A hundred small kits containing batteries, canned goods and canned sterno fuel will be handed out at a hurricane preparedness trade show scheduled for Saturday at Tutu Park Mall.
PriceSmart also donated two larger emergency supply kits to Government House and the V.I. Territorial Emergency Management Agency at a ceremony held Wednesday at VITEMA headquarters.
"We want to be involved in the community," PriceSmart's general manager, Eric Hildebrandt, said at the presentation ceremony. While that "helps us out in the long run with sales," he said, it's also just to let people know "we're on St. Thomas, and we're here to help the community."
In accepting the donation for VITEMA, Adj. Gen. Cleve McBean of the V.I. National Guard said PriceSmart and Hildebrandt "set the tone for what corporate citizenship is all about."
Noting that VITEMA, like the rest of the community, must be prepared for possible natural disasters, McBean added, "Part of our preparedness structure also requires us to have some goods on hand."
Representing Government House, James O'Bryan accept the other preparedness kit on behalf of the governor. And he took the opportunity to remind residents of the need to be prepared as the height of the 2002 Atlantic hurricane season approaches.
Warren Bush, director of the University of the Virgin Islands Small Business Development Center, said exhibitors at Saturday's trade show will promote locally available goods and services consumers can utilize to protect their homes and businesses before a catastrophic storm strikes. The SBDC has organized such events in conjunction with VITEMA for several years. And at times of disaster, the agency assists the public in preparing applications for disaster assistance.
"We look forward to this event," Bush said of the trade show, so that the community can be made aware of "the types of preventative help that is out there."
The trade show will be in progress from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. In order to receive one of the small preparedness kits, an individual must be a food stamp program participant or have a recipient card, Hildebrandt said.
Meanwhile, on Friday, a "natural hazards management" forum is scheduled at Marriott's Frenchman's Reef Beach Resort, where banking and insurance representatives will be on hand to answer questions. The event, from 9 a.m. to noon, is being presented by VITEMA and the SBDC and is open to the public without charge.
Panelists will discuss disaster preparedness planning, insurance, mitigation, earthquake and hurricane preparedness and exemplary paractices in emergency management. Bush said the forum will bring together service providers who can help guide consumers through the process of making homes and businesses weather ready.
Hurricane experts have predicted a mild to moderate 2002 hurricane season. Even so, Bush said, one of the points of holding trade shows and forums year after year is that they help instill a readiness mindset, so that if any kind of disaster should strike, Virgin Islanders will find their response is almost second nature.
For more information call the SBDC at 776-3206 or VITEMA at 774-2244.
Publisher's note : Like the St. John Source now? Find out how you can love us twice as much — and show your support for the islands' free and independent news voice … click here.
A hundred small kits containing batteries, canned goods and canned sterno fuel will be handed out at a hurricane preparedness trade show scheduled for Saturday at Tutu Park Mall.
PriceSmart also donated two larger emergency supply kits to Government House and the V.I. Territorial Emergency Management Agency at a ceremony held Wednesday at VITEMA headquarters.
"We want to be involved in the community," PriceSmart's general manager, Eric Hildebrandt, said at the presentation ceremony. While that "helps us out in the long run with sales," he said, it's also just to let people know "we're on St. Thomas, and we're here to help the community."
In accepting the donation for VITEMA, Adj. Gen. Cleve McBean of the V.I. National Guard said PriceSmart and Hildebrandt "set the tone for what corporate citizenship is all about."
Noting that VITEMA, like the rest of the community, must be prepared for possible natural disasters, McBean added, "Part of our preparedness structure also requires us to have some goods on hand."
Representing Government House, James O'Bryan accept the other preparedness kit on behalf of the governor. And he took the opportunity to remind residents of the need to be prepared as the height of the 2002 Atlantic hurricane season approaches.
Warren Bush, director of the University of the Virgin Islands Small Business Development Center, said exhibitors at Saturday's trade show will promote locally available goods and services consumers can utilize to protect their homes and businesses before a catastrophic storm strikes. The SBDC has organized such events in conjunction with VITEMA for several years. And at times of disaster, the agency assists the public in preparing applications for disaster assistance.
"We look forward to this event," Bush said of the trade show, so that the community can be made aware of "the types of preventative help that is out there."
The trade show will be in progress from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. In order to receive one of the small preparedness kits, an individual must be a food stamp program participant or have a recipient card, Hildebrandt said.
Meanwhile, on Friday, a "natural hazards management" forum is scheduled at Marriott's Frenchman's Reef Beach Resort, where banking and insurance representatives will be on hand to answer questions. The event, from 9 a.m. to noon, is being presented by VITEMA and the SBDC and is open to the public without charge.
Panelists will discuss disaster preparedness planning, insurance, mitigation, earthquake and hurricane preparedness and exemplary paractices in emergency management. Bush said the forum will bring together service providers who can help guide consumers through the process of making homes and businesses weather ready.
Hurricane experts have predicted a mild to moderate 2002 hurricane season. Even so, Bush said, one of the points of holding trade shows and forums year after year is that they help instill a readiness mindset, so that if any kind of disaster should strike, Virgin Islanders will find their response is almost second nature.
For more information call the SBDC at 776-3206 or VITEMA at 774-2244.
Publisher's note : Like the St. John Source now? Find out how you can love us twice as much — and show your support for the islands' free and independent news voice … click here.
LOW-INCOME FAMILIES CAN GET FREE STORM SUPPLIES
Aug. 20, 2002 – Families living on fixed or low incomes will be able to take advantage of a donation of hurricane supplies made to the V.I. government by PriceSmart on St. Thomas.
A hundred small kits containing batteries, canned goods and canned sterno fuel will be handed out at a hurricane preparedness trade show scheduled for Saturday at Tutu Park Mall.
PriceSmart also donated two larger emergency supply kits to Government House and the V.I. Territorial Emergency Management Agency at a ceremony held Wednesday at VITEMA headquarters.
"We want to be involved in the community," PriceSmart's general manager, Eric Hildebrandt, said at the presentation ceremony. While that "helps us out in the long run with sales," he said, it's also just to let people know "we're on St. Thomas, and we're here to help the community."
In accepting the donation for VITEMA, Adj. Gen. Cleve McBean of the V.I. National Guard said PriceSmart and Hildebrandt "set the tone for what corporate citizenship is all about."
Noting that VITEMA, like the rest of the community, must be prepared for possible natural disasters, McBean added, "Part of our preparedness structure also requires us to have some goods on hand."
Representing Government House, James O'Bryan accept the other preparedness kit on behalf of the governor. And he took the opportunity to remind residents of the need to be prepared as the height of the 2002 Atlantic hurricane season approaches.
Warren Bush, director of the University of the Virgin Islands Small Business Development Center, said exhibitors at Saturday's trade show will promote locally available goods and services consumers can utilize to protect their homes and businesses before a catastrophic storm strikes. The SBDC has organized such events in conjunction with VITEMA for several years. And at times of disaster, the agency assists the public in preparing applications for disaster assistance.
"We look forward to this event," Bush said of the trade show, so that the community can be made aware of "the types of preventative help that is out there."
The trade show will be in progress from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. In order to receive one of the small preparedness kits, an individual must be a food stamp program participant or have a recipient card, Hildebrandt said.
Meanwhile, on Friday, a "natural hazards management" forum is scheduled at Marriott's Frenchman's Reef Beach Resort, where banking and insurance representatives will be on hand to answer questions. The event, from 9 a.m. to noon, is being presented by VITEMA and the SBDC and is open to the public without charge.
Panelists will discuss disaster preparedness planning, insurance, mitigation, earthquake and hurricane preparedness and exemplary paractices in emergency management. Bush said the forum will bring together service providers who can help guide consumers through the process of making homes and businesses weather ready.
Hurricane experts have predicted a mild to moderate 2002 hurricane season. Even so, Bush said, one of the points of holding trade shows and forums year after year is that they help instill a readiness mindset, so that if any kind of disaster should strike, Virgin Islanders will find their response is almost second nature.
For more information call the SBDC at 776-3206 or VITEMA at 774-2244.
Publisher's note : Like the St. Thomas Source now? Find out how you can love us twice as much — and show your support for the islands' free and independent news voice … click here.
A hundred small kits containing batteries, canned goods and canned sterno fuel will be handed out at a hurricane preparedness trade show scheduled for Saturday at Tutu Park Mall.
PriceSmart also donated two larger emergency supply kits to Government House and the V.I. Territorial Emergency Management Agency at a ceremony held Wednesday at VITEMA headquarters.
"We want to be involved in the community," PriceSmart's general manager, Eric Hildebrandt, said at the presentation ceremony. While that "helps us out in the long run with sales," he said, it's also just to let people know "we're on St. Thomas, and we're here to help the community."
In accepting the donation for VITEMA, Adj. Gen. Cleve McBean of the V.I. National Guard said PriceSmart and Hildebrandt "set the tone for what corporate citizenship is all about."
Noting that VITEMA, like the rest of the community, must be prepared for possible natural disasters, McBean added, "Part of our preparedness structure also requires us to have some goods on hand."
Representing Government House, James O'Bryan accept the other preparedness kit on behalf of the governor. And he took the opportunity to remind residents of the need to be prepared as the height of the 2002 Atlantic hurricane season approaches.
Warren Bush, director of the University of the Virgin Islands Small Business Development Center, said exhibitors at Saturday's trade show will promote locally available goods and services consumers can utilize to protect their homes and businesses before a catastrophic storm strikes. The SBDC has organized such events in conjunction with VITEMA for several years. And at times of disaster, the agency assists the public in preparing applications for disaster assistance.
"We look forward to this event," Bush said of the trade show, so that the community can be made aware of "the types of preventative help that is out there."
The trade show will be in progress from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. In order to receive one of the small preparedness kits, an individual must be a food stamp program participant or have a recipient card, Hildebrandt said.
Meanwhile, on Friday, a "natural hazards management" forum is scheduled at Marriott's Frenchman's Reef Beach Resort, where banking and insurance representatives will be on hand to answer questions. The event, from 9 a.m. to noon, is being presented by VITEMA and the SBDC and is open to the public without charge.
Panelists will discuss disaster preparedness planning, insurance, mitigation, earthquake and hurricane preparedness and exemplary paractices in emergency management. Bush said the forum will bring together service providers who can help guide consumers through the process of making homes and businesses weather ready.
Hurricane experts have predicted a mild to moderate 2002 hurricane season. Even so, Bush said, one of the points of holding trade shows and forums year after year is that they help instill a readiness mindset, so that if any kind of disaster should strike, Virgin Islanders will find their response is almost second nature.
For more information call the SBDC at 776-3206 or VITEMA at 774-2244.
Publisher's note : Like the St. Thomas Source now? Find out how you can love us twice as much — and show your support for the islands' free and independent news voice … click here.
GUY BENJAMIN SCHOOL REPORTING DATES
Aug. 21, 2002 – Dr. Blanche Bello, principal of Guy Benjamin Elementary School on St. John, announces the reporting schedule for the 2002-2003 school year.
All new, returning and transfer students in Kindergarten through fifth grade are to report to school at 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 27.
Parents or guardians are asked to accompany their children for the orientation session.
The Administration and staff of Guy H. Benjamin School welcomes their students back and reminds parents that workbook, insurance and PTO fees ($41) are due on the first day of school.
I>Publisher's note : Like the St. John Source now? Find out how you can love us twice as much — and show your support for the islands' free and independent news voice … click here.
All new, returning and transfer students in Kindergarten through fifth grade are to report to school at 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 27.
Parents or guardians are asked to accompany their children for the orientation session.
The Administration and staff of Guy H. Benjamin School welcomes their students back and reminds parents that workbook, insurance and PTO fees ($41) are due on the first day of school.
I>Publisher's note : Like the St. John Source now? Find out how you can love us twice as much — and show your support for the islands' free and independent news voice … click here.
PEARSON MANAGER'S RESIDENT MEETING
The next monthly Manager's Resident Meeting will be held in the Paul M. Pearson Gardens Community Center. The agenda includes a welcome by Mr. Jeffrey Lettsome, Housing Manager and the guest speaker Miss "J", Public Relation Specialist. Mr. Lettsome will give a management update followed by the resident satisfaction survey and a question and answer period.
Persons with a disability who need special accommodations are asked to call the Manager's Office at 776-1498 three days prior to the date of the meeting.
Persons with a disability who need special accommodations are asked to call the Manager's Office at 776-1498 three days prior to the date of the meeting.
