The Virgin Islands Legislature will meet as the Committee of the Whole on Monday, June 2, to decide whether or not to rescind pay raises for top government officials that took effect earlier this year.
Bill No. 36-0085, sponsored by Sen. Alma Francis Heyliger, sits at the heart of the debate. The measure seeks to nullify the raises, require repayment of disbursed funds, and impose penalties on those who authorized or implemented them. Francis Heyliger had previously attempted to fast-track the bill to the Senate floor, but the effort was blocked and the measure was instead routed to committee. Its formal consideration now comes after months of public backlash and mounting scrutiny over raises that were quietly enacted under a law originally intended to remove politics from the compensation process.
The raises were born from a report issued by the Virgin Islands Public Officials Compensation Commission, formed to independently evaluate and recommend salary levels for elected and appointed officials. Under Act 8384, passed in 2022, VIPOCC was required to submit its recommendations to the Legislature by May 10, 2022. That deadline was not met. Instead, the report was delivered on Aug. 13, 2024 — more than two years later.
Under the same law, once the report is submitted, the Legislature has 90 days to review and either accept, reject, or amend the recommendations. If the Legislature takes no action, the raises automatically go into effect. Since no vote was held within the 90-day window, the raises quietly took effect on Jan. 1, with Government House publicly confirming the new salaries on Jan. 5.
The timing and rollout triggered swift questions from both the public and lawmakers. In a recent interview with the Source, Senate President Milton Potter said it’s important for the Legislature to review the process in full and determine whether the legal requirements were properly followed. “We need to be clear on whether the 90-day clock started as the law intended — and whether the conditions for implementation were truly met,” Potter said.
The report recommended a pay raise for the governor’s salary from $150,000 to $192,000 and also for the lieutenant governor’s from $125,000 to $168,000, along with bumps for other government officials.
Bill No. 36-0085 would undo the raises by returning salaries for officials to their Aug. 1, 2024, levels. It also includes strict financial and legal penalties for anyone who facilitated the payments. Specifically, any public employee who knowingly authorized, processed, or implemented the increases could face a fine of at least $5,000 for each day the violation continues. The bill also empowers the Justice Department to immediately recover any funds disbursed, with costs borne by the person responsible. Repeated or willful violations could lead to suspension or dismissal.
The bill also sets a hard deadline: all improperly disbursed salary funds must be returned to the General Fund by Sept. 30.
Gov. Albert Bryan Jr. has defended the process, stating that the law was followed and that the Legislature had the opportunity to act. The June 2 Committee of the Whole hearing is expected to bring clarity to how the report was transmitted, when it was received by lawmakers, and whether the executive branch played any role in its delayed release.
