Mapp Cuts Government Department Budgets By 8 Percent, Education Hit Hardest

ST. CROIX — Rumors spreading throughout the territory that Governor Kenneth Mapp is preparing to cut government employees’ salaries by 8 percent are false, however the administration has slashed the budgets of most government departments and agencies by the aforementioned percentage.

VI Consortium confirmed the 8 percent cut with freshman Sen. Kurt Vialet on Friday during an interview at the  senator’s office. Vialet said he contacted Mapp’s financial team, including the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Nellon Bowry, seeking clarification on the matter.

“We received a large number of concerns about employees getting an 8 percent cut, but we did call the financial team and spoke to the director of OMB and he assured us the 8 percent cut is to departments and government entities, not employees,” Vialet said.

Among the departments receiving cuts, the Department of Education was the hardest hit, losing $12 million as a result of the budget reduction. The former educator also made known that while most departments saw their budgets trimmed, both the Juan F. Luis and the Roy Lester Schneider hospitals were left untouched, along with “one or two other departments.”

The governor has the  authority to cut the budget of government departments and agencies without senate approval or involvement, Vialet said, and while there wasn’t any formal announcement by the governor in relation to the across-the-board reductions, Mapp’s financial team, while testifying at the legislature recently, did comment on looming cutbacks because of the government’s budget deficit — which continues to linger at $144 million.

In his State of the Territory Address in January, Mapp said the territory was on the brink of financial collapse because there was essentially no money to govern, and that “this new administration must now begin with a critical shortage of funds and obligations that far outpace revenues projected for fiscal year 2015.”

Mapp said the V.I. government has spent “every penny we have laid our hands on,” and lamented decisions made by the former de Jongh administration that allowed private-sector businesses to gain access to public funds and benefits without putting up collateral.

“We have borrowed and borrowed again, not only for ourselves and essential services, but also for others, to fund private-sector ideas called public-private partnerships, where we didn’t even require or ask our private partners to put capital, equity and/or risk on the table,” the governor said.

“We have borrowed to fund projects that the federal government would have gladly funded; projects it has funded for the territory in the past,” he said. “So, financially, we are not in a good place. In fact, our territory has never been in such a state in our history.”

But the governor has come under fire for giving pay raises to cabinet members while the territory’s economic state remains dire, and for his $12,500 rental mansion in St. Thomas paid for by tax payers.

At a press conference held on Tuesday at Government House in Christiansted, VI Consortium asked the governor about the residence and his plans for Catherineberg.

“I want to be very, very clear. I got elected and my priorities have nothing to do really with where I live and accommodations provided by the government,” Mapp said. “I own my own home of which I’ve owned from 2001. I live there when I’m on St. Croix. There’s residence made available to me by the government when I’m on St. Croix of which I have not slept in. I’m still in my own home and I’m happy to be there.”

The territory’s leader also reminded that he is required to reside on St. Thomas in according with law, however, Mapp said he will not live in a house that could be detrimental to his health.

“The Revised Organic Act requires me to take up residence on the Island of St. Thomas, but I’m not going to live in a place that’s not healthy, that’s not safe, that cannot provide accommodations that require for the duties of my office,” he said.

Still, Mapp believes repairs at Catherineberg are overdue, as well as a determination as to what should be the final purpose of the aging mansion. The governor also made known that he plans on exiting the St. Thomas rental that’s costing tax payers $12,500 every month.

“Now, we will do an assessment of Catherineberg, there will be repairs of Catherineberg, I do have a plan to exit the Nazareth property. I can’t give you a date on when that exodus will occur, but I think overall, and I’ve been on this public stage for quite a while, as a government and as a territory, we need to come to a resolution on this issue with residencies for governors and lieutenant governors. It’s been provided since governor’s were appointed by presidents,” Mapp said.