Communications towers purchased years ago for the government’s information network but never installed are obsolete now, so the V.I. Bureau of Information Technology will sell them off and focus on fiber optics, acting Director Angel Turnbull said during budget hearings Thursday in Frederiksted.
"The bureau has made a determination based on the cost of erecting and maintaining a tower that it would be better to have all the unused towers sold," Turnbull said.
Sen. Nereida "Nellie" Rivera-O’Reilly asked if this meant technology had "skipped over us" while the towers sat uninstalled and were now obsolete. Turnbull said that was so, but said fiber optics were a better option currently, partly because they would generally be underground and so less vulnerable to storm damage. Where possible, BIT plans to phase out microwave dishes used to connect government offices in favor of fiber too, he said.
BIT can make use of fiber optic cables being laid underground right now by the V.I. Water and Power Authority and also fiber soon to be laid by V.I. Next Generation Network broadband initiative, he said.
BIT’s mission is to install and manage the Government Wide Area Network that will provide internet to all branches of government, communication trunking for the 911 system and the government’s Enterprise Resource Planning government financial management system.
The BIR’s 2012 budget request from the general fund is $2.8 million – $75,000 or three percent less than the year before. On top of that, the bureau is requesting $1.6 million in miscellaneous appropriations to cover $899,000 in software licensing and $697,000 for maintenance of BIT infrastructure, bringing the total budget request to $4.4 million- a slight increase in the total budget from $4.2 million last year.
Wages and salaries consume $991,000 and benefits along with employer Social Security and Medicare contributions account for $361,000 of the budget. Office rentals accounts for $270,000 from the general fund and leased tower space accounts for $367,000 from the miscellaneous section of the budget. Professional services consume $96,000. Communications eats up $705,000 and utilities $155,000.
No votes were taken at the information gathering hearing.
Committee members present were Chairman Carlton "Ital" Dowe, Sens. Sammuel Sanes, Nereida "Nellie" Rivera-O’Reilly and Janette Millin-Young. Absent were Sens. Louis Hill, Shawn-Michael Malone, and Celestino White Sr.