A bill submitted to the Senate by Gov. Charles Turnbull late last week seeks to redirect millions of dollars from government funds in order to cover a variety of obligations before the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30.
Turnbull is asking that more than $2.1 million from the Indirect Cost Fund be reprogrammed to cover molasses subsidy payments for fiscal year 1999, which ends Sept. 30, and prior years’ obligations. Another $500,000 from the fund will go to supplement the fiscal year 1999 Rum Promotion subsidy.
Out of the same fund, the governor is seeking more than $1.8 million to pay a portion of a past settlement agreement between the government and a contractor concerning a dispute over work done at the Gov. Juan F. Luis Hospital on St. Croix. The payment is due by the end of the fiscal year as well.
The $5,277,255 in the Indirect Cost Fund was originally earmarked to repay Federal Emergency Management Agency loans. However, Turnbull’s bill proposal stated that because FEMA has deferred loan repayments for a year, all but $762,325 in the fund can be reprogrammed for other uses.
Meanwhile, Turnbull is targeting $1.5 million in the Anti-litter and Beautification Fund to pay solid waste contractors for this year and prior years. Garbage haulers on St. Croix stopped work last month because of lack of payment by the government. The contractors contend they are owed almost $2 million from as far back as 1995.
Turnbull also wants to use some $140,000 out of the Anti-litter and Beautification Fund to purchase parts for VITRAN buses.
Other elements of Turnbull’s bill proposal include:

• Appropriating an additional $622,20 to the Department of Property and Procurement for payment of outstanding rents for warehouses on St. Thomas and St. Croix.
• A "corrective amendment" to have the Government Development Bank and the Industrial Development Commission reimburse the Department of Tourism for non-tourism related personnel costs that it is currently incurring for those agencies.
• Amending Act. 6275 to allow the Department of Planning and Natural Resources to administer the V.I. Air Protection Fund as required by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.