From expensive wastewater pumps to blown truck tires, it’s not unusual for three or four things to suddenly go wrong at the Virgin Islands Waste Management Authority at the same time, officials said at the authority’s board of directors meeting Tuesday.
For small, emergency fixes not in the regular budget, the authority relies on credit cards. Usually those cards are carried by three or more people with limits $25,000 or less. The authority has 48 unfilled positions, however, including CEO. With Chief Financial Officer Daryl Griffith filling in as CEO, the board voted to increase Griffith’s credit card limit from $25,000 to $50,000 to take care of routine emergencies.
When other credit-card-carrying positions are filled, the board said Griffith’s card limit would be reevaluated and potentially reduced.
For the larger, more predictable financial outlook, the authority’s board of directors approved the proposed $53.6 million budget for fiscal year 2026. The 36th Legislature is scheduled to review the budget in July.
The board discussed details of the authority’s proposed budget, which covered replacement, regular maintenance, and repair of vital equipment. This included items like a vital trash compactor for St. Croix, currently under repair in Puerto Rico. The compactor doesn’t just make the garbage smaller, it also reduces oxygen between potentially flammable bits of trash, reducing the risk of fire, the authority’s acting executive director, Griffith, said.
Derek Gabriel, chairman of the Waste Management Board, said the budget was in good shape.
“This is a well thought out and planned budget that tried to provide better structure than we’ve seen in previous years,” Gabriel said.
There are other areas where the authority has a surplus and a need. Board members were concerned the authority has somewhere close to 100 vehicles, but very few meet the needs of the wastewater team. The board also discussed potential increases in tipping fees and other revenue streams, but decried a lack of enforcement at dump sites. If existing rules were better enforced, it could reduce the need for new fees, they said.
Gabriel said people caught illegal dumping ought to be caught, fined, and publicly shamed.
“That is not a budgeted expense,” he said of illegally discarded oil, tires, and household appliances.
“That is a community problem. That is not a government problem. The government is there to assist and to clean up but the community needs to dump properly,” Gabriel said. “Just like everything else, people need to know that it’s your neighbor that’s tossing.”
Gabriel also agreed with Griffith that there may be too many collection sites throughout the territory, leading to a dump-it-anywhere mentality, especially around used cooking oil.
Illegally dumped oil was a huge problem, they said, not only as litter and contamination, but clogging stormwater systems and polluting watersheds.
Griffith said the WMA recently disposed of 25,000 gallons of oil on St. Croix and 12,000 gallons of oil on St. Thomas.
“We are getting so much illegally dumped oil that it’s insane. It cost $166,000 on St. Croix to dispose of that oil,” Griffith said.
The stress improperly discarded trash puts on the territory’s aging infrastructure hastens its frequent breakdowns, Griffith and Gabriel said.
Griffith said WMA crews cleaned up at least a hundred tires along a single stretch of roadway on St. John, only to have someone dump more the next day. The sight was heartbreaking, he said.
“I’m like, awe come on! We picked up over 100 tires and the next day somebody put four tires next to the school bus shanty?” Griffith said.
Waste Management Authority issued 110 citations so far in 2025. Of 58 citations issued on St. Thomas and St. John, 15 went to businesses. On St. Croix, four of 52 citations went to businesses.
St. Croix Source
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