March 27, 2007 — While the Senate's Finance Committee approved a bill on Tuesday appropriating $5 million for a longstanding road project on St. Thomas, a representative from the Office of Management and Budget said that the proposed funds will not be available during fiscal year 2007.
However, the bill's sponsor, Sen. Carlton "Ital" Dowe, explained that engineering and design plans still have to be drawn up for the construction of Leonardo "Nardo" Trotman Drive, which will wrap behind Tutu Park Mall and lead to McBean Ballpark. In the meantime, the Legislature could either look for a new funding source or wait until money becomes available in FY 2008.
The bill proposes to take the $5 million from the Transportation Trust Fund, which acting OMB Director Debra Gottlieb said will soon be $2 million in the red. During the meeting, she explained that several appropriations made against the fund for FY 2007 are still pending, including the transfer of $15 million to the General Fund.
Gottlieb urged senators to amend the bill, allowing for the proposed $5 million to be taken from the fund in FY 2008. She also said that the new administration will soon be submitting an initiative that, among other things, reprograms money from an existing capital project to cover the cost of design plans.
While Senate President Usie R. Richards pointed out that a bill passed last week by the full Senate already appropriates money to cover the design phase of the project, officials from Public Works said the extra $1.3 million will come in handy as the construction process moves forward.
Acting Public Works Commissioner Robert Moorehead explained that when the project was first introduced by Dowe in 2004, cost estimates totaled about $5 million. However, the project is now expected to cost upwards of $6.4 million, since the department has made some changes to the original scope of work.
"The … estimate now includes sewer- and water-line installation, increased sidewalks and the installation of a six-foot, 12-gauge cyclone fence, which we feel is critical to the project," Moorehead said, adding that the estimate could increase if any problems are encountered as the road is being built.
Public Works is also proposing that the project be expanded to include the addition of two roads — an access road to the new Tutu Park Library, along with a road connecting McBean Ballpark to Donoe Bypass.
The access road to the library will bring the project up to nearly $8.4 million. The Donoe/McBean connector road will cost an additional $1.7 million, Moorehead said.
Dowe explained that the library access road is a "critical" addition to the project, since residents currently have no other way of getting to the site.
"The road the contractors are currently using to get to the library is basically through the Plaza Extra parking lot," he said. "That is not a good situation, and there are legal disputes with the supermarket going on as I speak. So this is needed."
Dowe recommended that senators could approve the bill as it is presently written, then amend it in the Rules and Judiciary Committee or during a full session. "There's no rush today to put the $5 million in Public Works' hands, but we want to be able to pay for the engineering services, which will take some four to five months," he said.
While all senators said they supported the project, some were less than satisfied with Gottlieb's report on the status of the Transportation Trust Fund. "Today is March 27, and for the OMB director to come here two months before the administration sends down the budget and tell us that this appropriation should be applied in 2008, and that there are still obligations pending against the proposed funding source, basically tells us that this piece of legislation is putting the cart before the horse," said Sen. Neville James.
James, along with Sen. Ronald E. Russell consequently voted against the bill, while Sens. Liston Davis, Dowe, Juan Figueroa-Serville and James Weber III voted in favor.
Finance Committee chairman Terrence "Positive" Nelson abstained.
Later in the afternoon, the committee also approved a federal grant application from the St. Thomas East End Medical Center and a lease between the government and Eloret Prentice, doing business as Twins Body Shop.
As usual, senators told East End Medical Center representatives that they were concerned about the agency's lack of financial records and rumors that federal money had been mismanaged or misspent.
Responding to the concerns, East End's current executive director, Anneta Adams Heyliger, said she has been, for the past two years, working on re-creating and producing the agency's financial documents for an audit scheduled to be completed next month.
The audit, which spans from FY 2002 to FY 2006, must be submitted to the federal government by May 1, she added.
Senators unanimously approved the grant, which totals $275,000.
The lease agreement was approved for a period of 10 years, with rent set at $9,240 per year.
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