Lawmakers lined up behind a measure to “prevent or rescind” the implementation of raises for top government officials during a Committee of the Whole meeting Monday, despite the absence of any testifiers from the central government.
Virgin Islands Personnel Division Director Cindy Richardson, Finance Commissioner Kevin McCurdy and Government House Chief of Staff Kevin Williams Sr. all sent correspondence to Senate President Milton Potter noting their unavailability due to scheduling conflicts, according to letters read into the record Monday.
“This is the first time I’m actually speaking to no one,” Sen. Hubert Frederick said after greeting the “invisible testifiers” and his colleagues. “We have all these questions but they, the executive branch, chose not to visit us today for whatever reason, which is, to me, it’s an affront to the people of the Virgin Islands.”
The raises were recommended by a V.I. Public Officials Compensation Commission report submitted last August, two years after the deadline established by Act 8384 in 2022. The commission’s recommendations included bumping up the governor’s annual salary from $150,000 to $192,000 and the lieutenant governor’s salary from $125,000 to $168,000. The public became aware after news of the raises broke in early January, and Gov. Albert Bryan Jr. issued a statement saying he had accepted the VIPOCC’s recommendations.
Lawmakers’ vexation with the raises — and their implementation — was reignited during a May 23 Finance Committee hearing during which Richardson said the raises had been processed and would be applied retroactively to start on Dec. 2. Asked about that date last week, Government House spokesperson Richard Motta Jr. referred to Act 8384, which states that nonaction “on the recommendation within the 90-day period is deemed an approval by the Legislature of the recommendations. If the Commission’s recommendations are approved or amended the salary, expense, allowance and other emolument determinations take effect for the legislative session immediately following the next general election.”
“So the 90 days for the report, and then of course you had to wait until the next election — general election — which was that November, and then a session, which was also that November,” he said. “And so I’m assuming that’s why the date starts in December.”
During the May Finance Committee hearing, lawmakers also questioned the appointment of Haldane Davies, who chaired the commission, to head the V.I. Economic Research Bureau, which Bryan announced during a press conference days earlier.
Lt. Gov. Tregenza Roach later said in a statement that he had no issue with the commission’s work but that Davies’ appointment “taints the work of the Commission and now makes the wage increases appear an instance of quid pro quo” before calling on the raises to be rescinded. Bryan doubled down on the raises in an exchange with the Source.
“You can’t rescind the law,” he said. “The law is the law. I didn’t make it. I just follow it.”
On Monday, lawmakers signaled their intent to change the law.
Sen. Alma Francis Heyliger said the bill was informed by the territory’s current fiscal climate and the need “to make sure that when you decide to give individual raises, they’re actually tied to performance as opposed to doing things because people feel they’re entitled to them.”
“But somehow, the executive branch — through the wisdom of this governor of the Virgin Islands — went ahead and implemented these raises,” she said. “I don’t support that, and I’m asking my colleagues not to support this type of lawless behavior.”
With no testifiers to question, senators spent Monday afternoon soliciting legal clarity from Chief Legal Counsel Amos Carty Jr., who stressed that the lateness of the commission’s report had no bearing on whether or not the raises were valid.
“The fact it was late — it is what it is. It was late,” he said.
Sen. Marise James later questioned the legality of the portion of Act 8384, which stated that nonaction by the Legislature constitutes an approval of the commission’s recommendations. Carty noted that he was not counsel to the Legislature when the bill was drafted and enacted.
“Had I been counsel, I would have advised the body not to enact this,” he said, “because of the situation that we’re having now.”
Lawmakers later turned to the lower end of the pay scale as Senate Majority Leader Kurt Vialet put forward a broadly supported measure to increase the minimum annual salary for full-time government employees from $27,040 to $32,000, which Vialet described as “the complete opposite of what we’re rescinding.”
St. Croix Source
Local government, Local news
