Sen. Terrence “Positive” Nelson Tuesday at a press conference held at Budhoe Park in Frederiksted spoke at length about a bill he drafted to create what he calls an ‘Elected Officials Compensation Commission’ that would determine the salaries of government officials, including those elected and appointed.
The move comes amid outcry from territory residents regarding pay increases Gov. Kenneth Mapp gave to new cabinet appointees, while at the same time cautioning that certain campaign promises he made, such as the immediate hiring of 1,000 government workers, would be placed on hold because the territory’s coffers were empty.
“Our territory has never been in such a state in our history,” Mapp somberly said during his State of the Territory address in January.
Nelson, who is serving his sixth term as senator said the idea is not originally his own, and revealed experience has taught him the difficulty involved in giving pay raises to government officials.
“All of these genius ideas did not begin with me,” Nelson said. “I’ve been to conferences in my tenure as a senator, which pointed out to us the challenges of any increase, even if it was only five dollars for public officials.”
The senator is relying on information made available by the National Council of State Legislators and the Council of State Governments, who “have found that the best way to move forward, and to assess elected officials’ pay is to have a compensation commission, which would have to look at certain criteria and certain factors, which would include the overall cost of your government, and whether or not those salaries that are being proposed are sustainable without any new tax generation,” Nelson explained.
The commission would quell “the politics involved in determining elected officials’ salaries, whether it be governors, senators, commissioners, director positions, because it is necessary to do this,” Nelson said.
In relation to the recent pay increases given to Mapp appointees, Nelson decried the process as impractical.
“The haphazard, non-methodical way in which we currently give raises does not make any sense and cannot be justified,” he said. “No rationale at all justifies the way we give increases to cabinet members.”
Nelson continued: “And I do not agree with the perception or the concept that, because an individual ran businesses before, their salaries should be commensurate with what they made as a private business owner.
“That’s poor reasoning in every measure, because government cannot sustain those levels of salaries. And to give a few those levels of salaries when you have people [who are] working professionals [and] well qualified, who are underpaid at the very same moment, creates the atmosphere for a demoralized workforce. And if we really want to move forward, I believe the compensation commission will help in a big way.”
Sen. Nelson revealed that the commission would include nine members: three chosen by the governor, another three by the Legislature and three more by the Chief Justice of the Virgin Islands Supreme Court. As for qualifications of commission members, Nelson did not offer specifics, but said they would be required to possess certain prerequisites relative to the task of making decisions about the compensation of government officials.
As for getting the legislation through, Nelson said Senate President Neville James is supportive of the measure and has come on board as a primary sponsor of the bill.
With James’ endorsement, Nelson said he “suspects” it will move forward “soon.”
Feature Image: Sen. Terrance “Positive” Nelson at press conference at Budhoe Park, Frederiksted, St. Croix, March 17
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