The Department of Property and Procurement may do a feasibility study to see if it makes financial sense to sell government properties to help with budget problems, if legislation approved in the Finance Committee on Wednesday becomes law.
The measure [Bill 30-01016] sponsored by Sen. Sammuel Sanes and Judi Buckley simply authorizes such a study and sets a deadline of Sept. 30 to report the results of any study, if the study is done.
Property and Procurement Commissioner Lynn Millin Maduro testified that a study would be useful, but the bill lacks funding and the time frame is not feasible, she said.
One of the problems is that some government land is improperly documented, going back to property transferred to the V.I. government from the Danish government, so extensive title searches would be needed. Some of the property has special covenants affecting transfer of title and what the land can be used for too, she said.
As examples, Maduro cited 100 acres on Water Island that the federal government deeded with a requirement that it be used for housing, and land on St. Croix that is permanently restricted to agricultural use.
Other properties may have historic value or be more readily restored by the government than by a private party, she said. But some government land may be ripe for sale and the government needs to look for sources of revenue too, she said.
"The bill is proposing to do something that needs to be done," Maduro said. "I don’t think the administration is opposed to this," as long as it can be funded, she said.
Sen. Myron Jackson said he opposed selling public lands because they are irreplaceable public assets, often of historical and cultural importance, and were an important legacy to preserve for future generations.
"I don’t support selling government land – period," Jackson said.
Voting to send the bill on for further consideration were Sens. Donald Cole, Terrence "Positive" Nelson, Clarence Payne and Clifford Graham. Jackson voted nay. Buckley and O’Reilly were absent.
The committee held a bill to authorize a feasibility study regarding a police science training facility at the sponsor’s request. Sanes sponsored the bill.
Sen Jackson is absolutely correct. These lands are public lands, given to the people of the USVI. . . NOT the guberment to sell when they have overspent the budget. My suggestion is cut, cut, cut the expenditures starting at the Governors level and cutting deeply into the waste of money by the Senators on their lame brain projects and studies.
There are so many blatantly obvious wastes of public monies, that it seems to me the people asking for, and the people agreeing to receiving and spending public money are nothing but inept and poorly educated, selfish, unthinking, uncaring fools who continue to be elected by others that support the continued disrespect and criminal abuse(buying votes?) of the population, for their own personal gain.
The budget request needs to be presented and examined line by line, as there is undoubtedly hundreds of thousands of OUR dollars being squandered, with little to no investment return. If there is nothing inappropriate within the budget, then put sunshine on it and give us the mandated transparency.
Every day we see and hear from our community about great ways that the government can immediately save us money by:
– dramatically reducing the fleet of government vehicles
– implementing a government employees scheduled transit system
– stop paying these unbelievably idiotic salaries (buying votes?) to un/under qualified people (because of WHO they are, not what they know)
– submit appropriate, on time, well written federal and NGO grants
– stop spending OUR money on frivolous (buying votes?) events and friendship visits, etc.
– stop insulting us by wasting money on the unbelieveable fencing in and locking out the public from the Market Square Bungalow (those involved should be fired immediately!)
– Stop paying for kids (buying votes??) to travel to baseball games all over the Caribbean, and other equally or worse wastes of OUR money.Yes, we love our kids, but make those ball clubs do fundraisers like kids do all over America. If they really want to compete and travel, then let them get out their and fund raise.
And there are literally hundreds of other abuses that must be fixed. And the sooner the better!
We are in desperate financial straits that everybody understands, EXCEPT those that we’ve voted in to make legal, logical and appropriate financial decisions for ALL of the People of the Virgin Islands, not just the chosen, entitled few.
SHAME ON GOVERNOR DE JONGE AND THE ENTIRE ADMINISTRATION, the complete Board of Elections, that do-nothing DEL. CHRISTENSEN, AND the ENTIRE two-faced SENATE!!! They are all an embarrassment as elected officials, and more importantly they are a disgrace to our entire community.
They need to be removed from office and those that have violated our laws must be captured, charged, adjudged, and sentenced.
Give the Power to the People, or the People WILL Take it Back…..but when?
There are so many blatantly obvious wastes of public monies, that it seems to me the people asking for, and the people agreeing to receiving and spending public money are nothing but inept and poorly educated, selfish, unthinking, uncaring fools who continue to be elected by others that support the continued disrespect and criminal abuse(buying votes?) of the population, for their own personal gain.
The budget request needs to be presented and examined line by line, as there is undoubtedly hundreds of thousands of OUR dollars being squandered, with little to no investment return. If there is nothing inappropriate within the budget, then put sunshine on it and give us the mandated transparency.
Every day we see and hear from our community about great ways that the government can immediately save us money by:
– dramatically reducing the fleet of government vehicles
– implementing a government employees scheduled transit system
– stop paying these unbelievably idiotic salaries (buying votes?) to un/under qualified people (because of WHO they are, not what they know)
– submit appropriate, on time, well written federal and NGO grants
– stop spending OUR money on frivolous (buying votes?) events and friendship visits, etc.
– stop insulting us by wasting money on the unbelieveable fencing in and locking out the public from the Market Square Bungalow (those involved should be fired immediately!)
– Stop paying for kids (buying votes??) to travel to baseball games all over the Caribbean, and other equally or worse wastes of OUR money.Yes, we love our kids, but make those ball clubs do fundraisers like kids do all over America. If they really want to compete and travel, then let them get out their and fund raise.
And there are literally hundreds of other abuses that must be fixed. And the sooner the better!
We are in desperate financial straits that everybody understands, EXCEPT those that we’ve voted in to make legal, logical and appropriate financial decisions for ALL of the People of the Virgin Islands, not just the chosen, entitled few.
SHAME ON GOVERNOR DE JONGE AND THE ENTIRE ADMINISTRATION, the complete Board of Elections, that do-nothing DEL. CHRISTENSEN, AND the ENTIRE two-faced SENATE!!! They are all an embarrassment as elected officials, and more importantly they are a disgrace to our entire community.
They need to be removed from office and those that have violated our laws must be captured, charged, adjudged, and sentenced.
Give the Power to the People, or the People WILL Take it Back…..but when?
There are so many blatantly obvious wastes of public monies, that it seems to me the people asking for, and the people agreeing to receiving and spending public money are nothing but inept and poorly educated, selfish, unthinking, uncaring fools who continue to be elected by others that support the continued disrespect and criminal abuse of the population, for their own personal gain.
The budget request needs to be presented and examined line by line, as there is undoubtedly hundreds of thousands of OUR dollars being squandered, with little to no investment return. If there is nothing inappropriate within the budget, then put sunshine on it and give us the mandated transparency.
Every day we see and hear about great ways that the government can save us money, like dramatically reducing the fleet of government vehicles, and implementing a government employees scheduled transit system; like not paying these unbelievably idiotic salaries to un/under qualified people (because of WHO they are, not what they know),like submitting appropriate, on time, well written federal and NGO grants, like not spending OUR money on frivolous events and friendship visits, etc. Like, Why do WE pay for kids to travel to baseball games all over the Caribbean, and other equally or worse wastes of OUR money. Yes, we love our kids, but make those ball clubs do fundraisers like kids do all over America. If they really want to compete and travel, then let them get out their and fund raise. And there are literally hundreds of other abuses that must be fixed. And the sooner the better!
We are in desperate financial straits that everybody understands, EXCEPT those that we’ve voted in to make legal, logical and appropriate financial decisions for ALL of the People of the Virgin Islands, not just the chosen, entitled few.
SHAME ON GOVERNOR DE JONGE AND THE ENTIRE ADMINISTRATION, that other do-nothing DEL. CHRISTENSEN, AND THE ENTIRE SENATE!!! They are an embarrassment as elected officials, and more importantly they are a disgrace to our entire community.
They need to be removed from office and those of them that have violated our laws must be charged, adjudged, and sentenced.
Give the Power to the People, or the People must Take it Back.
What will happen when you run out of things to sell? In our islands, the answer to loose hypocrites sinkin’ ships is to float bonds for the dons. Government salaries need to be scaled back. You cut lunch programs for the homeless (the basic substance required for life) but you will not cut back on your high five and low six figure salaries. That, you won’t cut! You should lead by example. Sell everything we own. Perhaps our children will learn to sell the baby with the bath water whenever they run up against tough times. Those making 70K, 80K, and 90K+ should be scaled back to 60K or 5K a month. If you can’t live on that, how the frig can you cut back on a plate of food for a homeless person? And live with yourself?