Mapp submitted amended FY2019 budget with $38 million in added revenue tied to refinery restart

Gov. Kenneth E. Mapp submitted an amended Fiscal Year 2019 budget to the Virgin Islands Legislature on Aug. 24, 2018, to account for more than $38 million in additional revenue expected from the agreement to resume oil refining on St. Croix.

Government House said the original budget had been submitted in May 2018, before the government finalized its agreement with ArcLight Capital, parent company of Limetree Bay Terminals, in July 2018.

In a letter to Senate President Myron Jackson, Mapp said the additional FY2019 revenue was expected to come from payroll and other taxes and from spending tied to reconstruction of the refinery.

The amended spending plan proposed $1.1 million more for local nonprofit organizations, $4.75 million for the Judicial and Legislative branches, $6.4 million to support part of wage increases established under Executive Orders 483-2018 and 484-2018, and $3.5 million for the Workmen’s Compensation Fund and the Unemployment Insurance Fund.

It also proposed $1 million for critical service employees at the Department of Health, $1.5 million for capital improvements related to the relocation of the Department of Planning and Natural Resources, $1 million for personnel and engineers at the Department of Public Works, and $1.23 million to pay vendors under the Department of Human Services.

Mapp also proposed directing $4 million to pay the territory’s waste haulers, stating that the Legislature had not acted on earlier legislation that would have allowed the Virgin Islands Waste Management Authority to pay its vendors.

Government House said the governor also cited afterschool programs, public-sector salary increases and assistance for farmers affected by hurricane losses as priorities in the amended budget.

Official source: https://www.vi.gov/governor-submits-amended-fy2019-budget-to-include-38-million-in-new-revenues/