VI UPDATE
U.S. Virgin Islands Public Records
TRANSCRIPT OF PUBLIC PROCEEDINGS
Committee on Budget, Appropriations and Finance
Legislature USVI
July 25, 2025 · 2.4 hours · gov
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https://youtu.be/o8nXc-7oKmk
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I'll see you next time Thank you. Oh, my God. Thank you. Oh, my God.
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Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
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Thank you. Thank you. so so uh
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so Thank you. Thank you.
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so Thank you. Oh Thank you. Oh, my God.
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Oh, my God. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
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Thank you. Oh, my God.
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Thank you. Oh, my God. I love you. [3 such phrases repeated 10 times · standby audio before the proceeding, transcribed
by the recogniser as speech]
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Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
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Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
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Thank you. Thank you.
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The Committee of Budget, Appropriations, and Finance is in order. At this time, I want to say a pleasant good morning.
My name is Senator Novel E. Francis Jr., and I'm the chair of the Committee of Budget, Appropriations, and Finance.
Good morning to all present, listening, and viewing. Today, the committee will receive the budget presentations of the
Office of the Governor and from the Office of the Lieutenant Governor, which is one of the most important of the
territory's revenue-generating agencies. The Lieutenant Governor's Office will defend their proposed general fund request
of $7,743,246. And the Office of the Governor will defend their budget request of $40,087,494. Over the weeks of this
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Legislature USVI · Committee on Budget, Appropriations and Finance
budget process, my colleagues and I have heard the good, the bad, and the ugly. Today, the Lieutenant Governor's Office
and the Office of the Governor will present their operational accomplishments, challenges, performance matrix, as well
as any special circumstances that may affect their fiscal year 2026 budgetary needs. These hearings are a valuable
window into government's operation. Today's budget presentation, the supporting post-audit analysis, and all documents
presented thus far can be found on the legislative website www.legvi.org in the budget appropriations and finance
committee folder i also want to take this opportunity to recognize our ambassador michelle smith again and her
accomplishment where she continued to put the versions on the map where she won recently again she won a silver a
silver medal for the first time a female from the Virgin Islands have been able to be placed in in that area so we want to
recognize her again and support the work that she continue to do and recognize the contribution to the Virgin Islands. At
this time I'd like to remind everyone to please put your cell phone on silent to avoid any interruptions during this meeting
and to ask the Madam Clerk to please call the roll.
A Blyden, Senator Blyden present, Senator Duane M. DeGraff, Senator DeGraff absent, Senator Ray Fonseca, Senator
Ray Fonseca absent, Senator Novelli Francis Jr. Senator Francis Jr. present senator hubert l frederick center hubert l
frederick present senator marie c james i am here senator james present senator curte veille center veille present mr chair
five present and two absent uh thank you very much madam clerk we do have a quorum i'm prepared to proceed uh do we
have any correspondence to be read into the record yes mr chair you may proceed july 25th 2025 the honorable novelli
francis jr chairman committee on budget appropriations and finance legislature of the virgin islands 3022 estate golden
rock kristin stetson croy subject request to be excused for a late arrival. Dear Chairman Francis, please accept this
correspondence as a formal notice that I'll be arriving late to today's Committee on Budget Appropriations and Finance
due to a prior engagement. I appreciate your understanding and extend my thanks for your continued leadership.
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Cordially, Senator Ray Fonseca. that ends the correspondence mr chair very well please mark senator fonseca as excuse
and we recognize him as soon as he arrives we also want to recognize the presence of non-committee members senator
angel boca senator at large good morning senator welcome and at this time i don't click please read today's agenda into
the record yes mr chair the committee on budget appropriations and finance will meet on friday july 25th 2025 10 a.m in
the earlby atley legislative hall on st thomas to receive testimony on the fiscal year 2026 budget block one 10 a.m to 12
noon office of the lieutenant governor invited testifier nadia harrigan esquire acting chief of staff block 2 1 to 3 pm office
of the governor invited testifier kevin a williams senior chief of staff this ends the reading of today's agenda mr chair very
well thank you very much please also recognize the presence of committee members senator duane m de graf at this time
we'll go to the testifiers table we have the members of the lieutenant governor's office team uh seated at the testifiers table
so we go to them real quickly for introductions good morning attorney acting chief of staff nadia harrigan good morning
um nadia d harrigan esquire acting chief of staff slash legal counsel very well miss farrington good morning claudette
farrington director of business and financial management good morning denise johannes
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director of the division of corporations and trademarks good morning chris george administrator gis division project
manager good morning good morning ludence a romney tax assessor good morning erica dover recorder of deeds office
in thomas district good morning magdalene burke assistant director and chief of securities registration Rose Maduro.
Good morning. Rose Marie Maduro, VI Ship, Medicare.
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Good morning. Kishma Dorset, District Supervisor of Passport Services. We'll go over to St. Croix. Good morning.
Ruthlyn Peters, Supervisor Passport Services, St. Croix. morning good morning shalma morehead a system tax assessor
morning good morning at clandina matthew division of banking insurance and financial regulation morning morning
everyone uh c porsha joseph district recorder recorder of deeds office st croix morning oh at this time good morning uh
tax collector all right um can we have media can we just uh show mr later i'm real quick okay this camera is working he's
virtual there we go good morning mr later let's try that again yes good morning brent lerda i'm tax collector very well
thank you at this time um attorney Nadia Harrigan the acting chief of staff you're recognized for your testimony thank
you senator good morning committee chairperson honorable Novell E. Francis jr. and honorable members of the 36th
legislature of the Virgin Islands Committee on Budget Appropriations and Finance other senators present today as well as
the viewing and listening audiences my name is Nadia D. Harrigan Esquire, Acting Chief of Staff and Legal Counsel for
the Office of the Lieutenant Governor, LGO, which is under the leadership of the Honorable Tregenza A. Roach Esquire,
Lieutenant Governor of the United States Virgin Islands. I most respectfully appear before you today on behalf of
Lieutenant Governor Roach to present testimony in the support of the Office of the Lieutenant governor's fiscal year 2026
budget request in summary i have included accomplishments for each division within lgo for fiscal year 2025 and their
goals for fiscal year 2026. today i am accompanied in the saint thomas legislative chambers and virtually from legislative
chambers on saint Croy by Miss Claudette Farrington, Director of Business and Financial Management, Attorney
Glendina Matthew, Director of the Division of Banking Insurance and Financial Regulations, Mr. Ludens A. Romney,
the Tax Assessor for the Division of Real Property Tax, Mr. Leardom, the Tax Collector for the Division of Real
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Property Tax, Mr. L. Chris George, Administrator for the the Division of Geospatial Information Systems. Miss Denise
Johannes, Director of the Division of Corporations and Trademarks. Miss Erica Dover, the Recorder of Deeds for the St.
Thomas-St. John District. Miss Seat Portia-Pierre, the Recorder of Deeds for the St. Croix District. Miss Kishma Dorsett,
Supervisor of the Passport Acceptance Facility for the St. Thomas-St. John District. Miss Ruthline Peters, Supervisor for
the Passport Acceptance Facility for the St. Core District, Ms. Rose Maduro, Director of the VI SHIP slash Medicare
Program, Mr. Lance McKay, Director of Management Information Systems, Ms. Magdalene Burke, Assistant Director
and Chief of Securities Registration in the Division of Banking Insurance and Financial Regulation, Ms. Shalma
Moorehead, the Assistant Tax Assessor for the Division of Real Property Tax, and Ms. Laura
Minster, Assistant Director of the Division of Corporation and Trademarks. Collectively, the divisions within LGO
provide essential services to the people of the Virgin Islands. These essential services include but are not limited to one,
the licensing registration and regulation of businesses that fall within the jurisdiction of respective divisions, two, the
recording and provision of access to critical land ownership documents and information, three, the collection and
provision of access to geospatial data used by public and private entities that provide emergency navigational and other
essential services. Four, the acceptance of passport applications which makes it possible for members of this community
to travel around the world. Five, the appointment of notaries and the processing of apostilles to authenticate official
documents to be used and recognized in foreign countries when traveling in and out of the United States. Six, assessment
of real property in the Virgin Islands and collections of taxes thereto. And seven, the education and counseling of the
members of this community regarding the services offered by LGO divisions through outreach. LGO's divisions generate
significant revenue for the government of the virgin islands making lgo the second largest revenue generating
government agency in the territory in fiscal year 2024 lgo collected 124 million three hundred three thousand eight
hundred ninety eight dollars and 92 cents in revenues for the government of the virgin islands as of 2025 the divisions
within lgo have collected 74 million nine hundred thirty nine thousand nine hundred ninety two dollars and seventy two
cents and one million two hundred eighty two thousand twenty four dollars in money transmission fees for a total of
seventy six million two hundred twenty two thousand sixteen dollars and seven cents whereas seven million five hundred
seventy six thousand six hundred nineteen dollars and ninety one cents was collected during the same period last fiscal
year the total revenue collections for fy 2025 across lgo's divisions is estimated to be 128 million eight hundred forty six
thousand five hundred seventy six dollars and two million two hundred twenty seven thousand twenty four dollars in
money transition fees for a total of 131 million seventy three thousand six hundred dollars which is a 5.45 increase of
collections in fy 2024 the total revenue collections across lgo's divisions for fiscal year 2026 is projected to be 128
million 829 263 dollars and 3 million 780 000 in money transition fees for a total of 132 million six hundred nine
thousand two hundred sixty three dollars since the beginning of fiscal year 2025 the office of the lieutenant governor
under the direction of lieutenant governor roach continues to provide the above reference critical services to members of
this community and to generate significant revenues for this territory with transparency efficiency consistency and
integrity the accomplishments and goals of lgo's various divisions play a critical role in the efforts of the brian roach
administration
0:35:48
to help restore rebuild and maintain a more resilient virgin islands community LGO's budget for FY2026 has increased
from $7,187,246 in FY2025 to $7,743,246, a difference of $556, or an increase of 7.74%, which will fund at least 91
positions. Despite challenges during the FY 2025, the very dedicated, experienced, qualified, and competent staff across
all of LGO's various divisions continue to perform their duties and responsibilities effectively and efficiently and have
had several noteworthy accomplishments as a result of their hard work, dedication, and continued sacrifices. On behalf of
Lieutenant Governor, we publicly commend the members of the LGO staff without whom LGO could not have achieved
any of its goals, which include inter alia the following. The Division of Business and Financial Management continues to
serve the nucleus of all financial activities and operations for the Office of the Lieutenant Governor, including preparing
and managing LGO's budget, providing budgetary support, and overseeing the day-to-day financial procurement of all
divisions within LGO to include facilitating the procurement of supplies and services and centralizing the
0:39:46
maintenance of all personnel time and attendance activity financial records processing vendor payments including
payments for all leases and contractual obligations of LGOs various divisions and processing the payroll additionally the
department is responsible for the overall collections of revenues within the direct oversight of cashier services. This
division has worked tirelessly on LGO's fiscal 2026 budget, which was submitted to the Office of Management and
Budget via OpenGov. The division also implemented the fiscal year 2025 salary increases for unionized employees under
the Master Agreement for Steelworkers of America, coupled with processing retroactive payments associated with the
increases. Additionally, the division participated in beginning negotiations for USW Supervisors Union. We are pleased
to report that the long-awaited services to repair and renovate the Cyan Farm Great House on St. Croix has begun. The
contract was awarded to DVD Construction Inc. The Cyan Farm project has been underway and commence on or about
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February 27th, 2025, according to the notice to proceed. As you may be aware, repairs to this historic structure must meet
exacting standards and must be closely monitored. The division actively participates in biweekly meetings regarding the
progress of this ongoing renovation project and anticipates the completion of this project by year's end. the division
oversaw the completion of the elevator repair measures at the main administrative
building of the office of lieutenant governor additionally we participated in selection of janitorial services for the st
thomas st john district coupled with involvement in other evaluation committees for our agency and or a specific division
under our agency the division facilitated filling two new real property tax appraiser one positions and a current employee
was promoted to the same position in the office of the tax assessor real property tax division sadly in february lgo lost the
former tax assessor ira mills who gave nine years of service to the division of real property tax since march 2016 as the
territories tax assessor and five years from 2011 to 2016 as business of director of business and financial management his
dedication contributions and service to lgo were highly valued and will not be forgotten the division has facilitated filling
the position and we currently have a new tax assessor in fy 2025 lgo had eight separations to include five resignations and
two retirements there are 29 vacancies at lgo we reported last year that lgo was relocating to the vi ship medicare office
from the san juan louis hospital to the new caribe location in estate castle coakley that has been accomplished and we are
actively serving clients at the new location the passport division was relocated from government house in frederickstead
to the caribe location and the recorder of d's office has been relocated from government house in christian said to the
caribe location and the division of banking insurance and financial regulation has been relocated from the christian stead
location in government house to the new caribe location additionally cashiers have been relocated to the new caribe
location all of the aforementioned divisions are actively seeing clients at the new location as stated in our testimony last
year in february 2024 lgo purchased the first bank building in christian said st croix with a legislative appropriation the
first band building will house the office of the tax assessor office of the recorder of deeds and tellers we subsequently
discovered that two air conditioning units and a condenser must be replaced and we have commenced the process to
procure the units and services. Additionally, a build-out would be needed to accommodate the divisions that will be
housed at that location. We are in the process of obtaining the specifications for solicitation and are diligently striving to
fix these challenges to complete the relocation to the building as soon as possible. We have anticipated moving into this
buildings sooner but the need to make other moves such as the ones mentioned above had to be prioritized in the interest
of workplace health and safety as example our recorder deeds had to
0:43:25
be moved from the christian stead location because of high mold counts which made that location unusable the division's
goals and objectives for fy 2026 include but are not limited to one attending meetings to monitor the progress and
completion of the repairs and renovations to the siren farm great house two continue negotiations for the s usw
supervisors union three participation in the selection of vendors for necessary services that will involve supply contracts
cleaning exterminating etc four facilitate filling positions in various divisions due to resignations and retirements five
prepare a budget and prepare and submit the fy 2027 budget to omb via open gov six facilitate needed remediation efforts
to address challenges pertaining to mold mildew etc seven and continue to process lgo's payroll and payments to lgo's
vendors for services rendered and to landlords for lgo's office locations We commend the very small staff of the Division
of Business and Financial Management for their hard work, commitment, dedication, and sacrifice to ensure that LGO
employees receive compensation for their work, have safe and comfortable working environments, have the resources
they need to perform their duties and responsibilities, and are able to provide the crucial services to members of the
Virgin Islands community and to generate revenues for this government. In the Administrative Office, thank you,
Director Claudette Farrington, Passion Dixon, Jermaine Estrell, Jasmine Powell, and Facilities, Matty Seeley, Jalon
James, and Jacqueline Jones. Additionally, we want to applaud the employees of Revenue Collections who diligently and
tirelessly accept payments to the Office of Lieutenant Governor.
0:46:44
Thank you for your service and long hours of work, particularly around June 30th and August 30th. Thank you to the
Chiefs of Revenue Collection, Arlene Chandler and Anissa Bright, and Akilah Thompson, Shivani Pennyfeather, Colette
Lake, Darlene Rapsat, Shani White, Jenester Benjamin, Glory Vicarino, Eloise Charles, Tashaun Matthew, Marcia
Pickren, and Lawana Williams. The Division of Banking and Insurance and Financial Regulation is a regulatory agency
with statutory and administrative authority to license, regulate, and supervise banks, insurance, and other financial
entities and related service providers, as well as administer the Virgin Islands Unclaimed Property Program, subject to
Titles 9, 12A, 22, and 28 of the Virgin Islands Code. The Lieutenant Governor serves as Commissioner of Insurance,
Chairman of the Virgin Islands Banking Board and Administrator of Securities and Unclaimed Property. The division
collected $34,546,404 in FY 2024. As of June 30th 2025, the division has collected in the Banks and Insurance Fund
$19,355,984.57 and 57 cents the financial services fund seven million nine hundred seventy two thousand one hundred
sixty nine dollars and in the money transition fund one million two hundred eighty two thousand twenty four dollars and
forty one cents for a grand total of twenty eight million six hundred ten thousand one hundred seventy six dollars and 98
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cents which is a nine percent increase over 26 million two hundred forty eight thousand seven hundred forty six dollars
four dollars which was collected in the same period in fy 2024. the division is projected to collect
37 million seven hundred forty five thousand one hundred seventy nine dollars to include two million two hundred
twenty seven thousand twenty four dollars in money transition fees in fy 2025 which is a nine point two cent percent
increase over fy 2024 and 39 million four hundred $15,000 including $3,780,000 in transmission fees in FY 2026. On
November 16th of 2024, at the National Association of Insurance Commissioners Fall National Meeting in Denver,
Colorado, Lt. Governor Churgenza A. Roach Esquire and his team of key persons from the division gave a presentation
which is the final component of the accreditation review for consideration of accreditation we are pleased to report that
the division was granted re-accreditation status for another five-year period which will allow other jurisdictions to readily
accept financial examinations of domestic multi-state insurance companies conducted by the division and will ensure
other regulators and the insurance industry of the division's compliance with standards rules and regulations established
by the naic as a part of its efforts to maintain accreditation the staff will continue to draft proposed legislation for the
approval of this body to update the insurance code of the virgin islands as stated in lgo's budget presentation last year for
FY 2025 as a part of its ongoing efforts to modernize regulatory operations and enhance public service delivery the
division officially launched Avenue Connect on April 2nd 2024.
0:50:53
This comprehensive digital platform was developed to streamline and centralize the administration of unclaimed property
making it significantly easier for reporting institutions to meet statutory obligations and for individuals to locate and
reclaim their unclaimed funds it allows holders of unclaimed property not real property in form of a bank accounts and
with refunds owned by insurance companies utility companies etc to electronically file unclaimed property reports the
division has created and made available unclaimed property listings via the office of lieutenant governor's website from
year 2007 to 2024 on the division's webpage and will continue to publish an unclaimed property listing annually in a
paper of general circulation as of june 30th 2025 avenue connect has facilitated the successful return of 1 million two
thousand forty four dollars to 251 residents across the territory this measurable outcome of highlights the the platform's
tangible impact and underscores the division's commitment to reuniting rightful owners with their property beyond its
financial benefits the initiative reflects the division's dedication to fiscal responsibility community customer protection
and restoration of public trust in government processes we are pleased to report that on march 24th of 2025 the division
received the prestigious and national compliance advancement of the year award from the unclaimed property
professionals organization uppo which is recognized the office of the lieutenant governor of the u.s virgin islands for the
efficient and timely implementation of its online on claimed property website a major milestone in improving access
transparency and service to the public the division has also successfully implemented act number 8936 as amended and
codified in title 9 virgin islands code sub chapter 2 which establishes the money transmission fee and money transmission
revolving fund the act mandates all licensed money transmitters that originates money transmission in the virgin islands
and terminates outside the united states with a few specifically identified exceptions collect three percent from consumers
on all transmissions this act was created by the 35th legislature of the virgin islands in an effort to help bridge the
government of the Virgin Islands revenue shortfall. The division was tasked with administering the act within 90 days of
its enactment on October 16, 2024. Remittance of the fee is required no later than 10 days after the last day of the
calendar month during which the fees are collected. As of June 30th, 2025, the division has collected $1,282,024.41
under the provisions of act number 8936 in january 2025 the division participated in a multi-state settlement coordinated
by the north american securities administrators association nasaa as a result of the division's participation the securities
unit received a settlement in the amount of 321 000 reinforcing the division's ongoing commitment to investor
0:52:48
protection regulatory enforcement and financial accountability the division anticipates participating in the upcoming
multi-state settlement in fy 2026 and subsequent fiscal years the securities unit continues to accept security notice filings
and payments across all categories of registrations thus far in fy 2025 the unit has collected five million seven hundred
ninety six thousand five hundred four dollars and seventy two cents the division is committed to attending training and
conferences and furtherance of continued education in banking insurance and financial regulation the division attended
training and advancement conferences held by the NAIC national multi-state licensing system national nationwide
mortgage licensing system and registry and the north america securities administrators throughout fy 2025 and will
continue to attend training and conferences to advance skills and continuing education through fy 2026. in fy 2025 the
division provided outreach to inform the citizens of the virgin islands about their mandates in furtherance thereof the
division developed the distributed brochures bulletins and booklets to educate consumers on key topics such as banking
insurance unclaimed property securities and investment scams in alignment with the division's consumer protection
mandate they also made information available at cultural events and food fairs the vi housing finance authority expo and
partnered with non-profit organizations on saint croix and saint thomas to distribute educational materials reaching
approximately 465 individuals across the territory in fy 2026 the division will continue to provide outreach which is vital
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to the education of the virgin islands community about the units under its supervision the division also successfully
implemented the nasaa model rule on investment
advisor representative continuing education which was adopted on november 24th of 2020 and went into effect on
january 1st of 2025 mandating annual continuing education for both state registered and federally covered investment
advisor representatives in furtherance thereof the division will be conducting required examinations of state registered
investment advisor and broker dealers using the nasaa examination model system nemo in fy 2026 the The division
strives to participate in the AARP TV program, as well as other outreach programs to discuss securities, scams and
investment fraud, commence examinations of state registered investment advisor and broker dealers using the NASAA
examination model system and will continue to coordinate and host Virgin Islands Insurance Industry Symposiums in
both districts.
0:59:03
Due to retirement, this division has lost and will continue to lose crucial employees and continues to face challenges in
attracting applicants with requisite specialized educational requirements and skill sets to fill these positions. For example,
the position of financial services examiner conducts examinations and investigations and reviews financial statements for
insurance companies and other licensed entities conducting business in the territory, which requires an accounting
background. This position is important because it encompasses the statutory duties and responsibilities of the division and
it is required to maintain accreditation status with the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. Not
withstanding this challenge, the staff conducted examinations, investigations, and annual reviews of financial statements
for insurance companies and other licensed entities conducting business in the territory however it has been a challenge
for the division to conduct financial analysis of licensed companies doing business in the territory within the desired
target period of 60 days from the date of receipt therefore hiring of additional staff is critical for succession planning
which currently has vacant position for banks and insurance regulatory analyst chief insurance licensing examiner
consumer protection and education officer insurance licensing licensing examiner financial services examiner and
securities registration examiner we have received from the division of personnel listings for the financial services
examiner and securities registration open positions and will be conducting interviews within the next two weeks we
commend and thank the hard-working staff of the division who continue to perform their statutorily mandated duties
competently and effectively to ensure that the best interest of the people of this territory is served thank you director
glendina matthew Esquire, Suzette Richards Esquire, Ashton Bertrand, Shaleen Soldano, Sylvia Brown, Pauline Lynch,
and Anna Lewis in the St. Croix District, and Assistant Director and Chief of Securities Registration, Magdalene Burke,
Natoya Cole, Juliet Daniel, Martin Emanuel, Kathleen Fleming, Beryl Fleming, Ariane Glang, Alicia Patrick Morse,
Condese Richards, Vanessa Richards, Louise Williams, Isaac Banson, Anna Alexander in the St. Thomas St. John
District. The Division of Real Property Tax administers and enforces all laws relating to the assessment, levy, and
collection of real property taxes and to the attachment and sale of real property for non-payment of real property taxes.
The Division of Real Property Tax comprises the Office of the Tax Assessor and the Office of the Tax Collector. The
Office of the Tax Assessor propels property tax bills which are sent to real property tax owners in June informing them of
real property tax arrearages and public sewer fees owed, as well as any interest and penalty owed if applicable. The
Office of the Tax Collector receives payments for real property taxes and upon request issues tax clearance letters.
Pursuant to Title 33 of the Virgin Islands Code, section 2492, real property taxes are due on June 30th and are considered
to be delinquent if not paid by August 30th of each year. Based on the aforementioned deadlines, the Visions experiences
an insurgent of real property tax revenue in July and August before property taxes become delinquent. In FY 2024, the
office of the tax collector was projected to collect $61 million and the office actually collected $62,771,876 in real
property taxes. In FY 2025, the office of the tax selector was projected to collect $64 million. As of June 30, 2025, the
office of the tax collector collected $24,332,151.
1:00:18
When real property taxes are delinquent, the Division of Real Property has options to collect real property tax arrearages
through tax lien sales, auctions, and judicial foreclosure and rem proceedings, the latter of which is initiated with a court
filing. Pursuant to Title 33 of the Virgin Islands Code, Section 2541 , residents who are considered middle and low to
moderate income veterans first-time home buyers seniors and persons with disabilities will have the opportunity to obtain
property through this process we are currently finalizing the rules and regulations for the judicial foreclosure and rem
proceedings to bring them to fruition installment plans are available for property owners who cannot afford to pay their
property taxes in full by entering into a payment plan it will stop the accrual of interest and penalties during the period
that the plan is in effect interest and penalties that are accrued prior to the execution of the installment plan are not
removed in fy 2024 real property tax owners entered into 581 installment plans and as of june 30th 2025 371 installment
plans have been established by homeowners who want to fulfill their obligations to pay the real property taxes the office
of the tax collector anticipates that 570 installment plans will be entered by august 30th 2025 after which real property
taxes are deemed delinquent real property taxes are a vital source of revenue for all jurisdictions and countries all over
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the world therefore it is crucial and essential that every real property tax owner fulfills his her obligation to pay their real
respective property taxes the online citizens access portal at https slash propertytax.vi.gov can be accessed 24 hours a day
from the comfort of your home place of employment or vacation spot to pay your real property taxes installment plans
can also be entered into and maintained at the same website in an effort to increase the real property tax revenue the
office of the tax collector continues to contact property owners to pay their respective taxes and public sewer fees and if
applicable interest and penalties the office has also commenced public awareness campaigns as evidence in the article in
the st thomas source on july 10th 2025 wherein tax collector brent leardham was interviewed the real property tax
division is seriously committed to providing public awareness campaigns via various social media and radio in fy 2026.
the message is clear pay your real property taxes As stated in our testimony last year, pursuant to the applicable statute, a
mass reappraisal
must be conducted every five years. Based on appreciated assistance from the Office of Management and Budget, the
Real Property Tax Division received three real property tax appraisal positions, which were filled in May 2025 in the St.
Thomas St. John District. In FY2026, our goal is to acquire additional appraiser positions. Additional appraisers would
inevitably reduce the cost of a mass appraisal because if we have sufficient local appraisers, they can learn the process
from the successful contractor and continue the appraisal process once the successful contractor leaves, failing which a
contractor would have to bring their crew of appraisers, which would increase the cost of the mass real appraisal contract
in addition in fy 2026 the division will strive to provide the appraisers with required training from the a i double a o due
to lack of adequate staff only 883 properties have been inspected in fy 2025 thus far in the saint thomas district st thomas
st john district 28 716 parcels should be inspected and 32 028 parcels in the st core district armed with additional
appraisers and other personnel in the real property tax division this will enable us to accomplish and fulfill our mandates
more efficiently and effectively Additionally, LGO requests that consideration be given to removing or increasing the
$500,000 cap on the Tax Assessor Revolving Fund to assist the division in generating more revenue for the territory and
in carrying out all of its legislative mandates. Pursuant to Title 33 of the Virgin Island Code, Section 2456, the Office of
the Tax assessor revolving fund shall consist of 1% of real property taxes collected annually by the tax assessor or an
amount not to exceed $500,000 per annum. For example, at FY 2024, if there were no cap, the real property tax division
would have realized 1% of $63 million or $630,000 for the tax assessor revolving fund. The difference is patently clear.
We publicly commend and thank the very dedicated and heartbreaking staff of the Division of the Real
1:07:56
Property Tax for their hard work in continuing to serve the members of the Virgin Islands community and generating the
necessary revenue for the government of the Virgin Islands. Thank You Tax Assessor Ludens A. Romney, Deputy
Paulette Eibel, Welby Warner, Sakina George, Paula Matthew, Colleen Wallace, Deborah maximum and sandra gustav
cadastro wayne carwood alita bradshaw and shereem jones and appraisers joanna stefferson asham nibs daryl goodings
and shakuan wallace in the saint thomas st john district and assistant tax assessor shalma moorhead zuma aloyo ruth
perkins pamela ritter laura acoy sakina ralph carmen francis and cadastro margaret acosta and chanelle bailey porter and
appraisers lilia Benjamin, Miguel Encarnacion, Henrique Alpin, Albert Schein, Michael Williams in the St. Core District,
Tax Collector Brent A. Leardom, Latoya Libert, and Aliyah Alexander in the St. Thomas, St. John District, and Reginald
Peterson, Jacqueline Rosario, and Nigel Gore in the St. Core District. The Division of Geospatial Information Systems of
the Office of Lieutenant Governor is responsible for providing the critical geospatial background backbone for the
territory of the United States Virgin Islands. The GISD, under the supervision of its administrator, delivers the
development, maintenance, and distribution of the Virgin Islands infrastructure, GIS information and related databases,
and GISD implements GISD policies, procedures, standards, and provides ultra-agency technical leadership, information
management, and project coordination. Additionally, GISD produces income by networking and providing services to
local government agencies, federal government agencies, and the private sector through the administration of the GISD
platform. These capabilities have positioned the office of lieutenant governor as the Caribbean regional leader in the field
of GIS in government infrastructure. In FY 2024 and FY 2025, GISD expended $746,125.50 in federal funding. GISD
will receive $4,590,519.03 in federal funding in FY2026 to be utilized for Street Addressing Initiative Project. In
FY2025, GISD completed the St. John SAI Project for the island of St. John. This means that St. John is distinguished as
being the first island in the Caribbean to have complete urban grid where every highway, road, street, and lane is named
and each parcel uniquely identifiable. And any utility or infrastructure project is now enabled by a reliable grid which can
lead utility, service, and emergency vehicles to a specified location. Other accomplishments include expending over $1.7
million of the $5.3 million funding for the Territory Street Addressing Initiative Final Phase. There's no local match.
Continue collaboration with USPS, VITEMA, and E911 for active transition to utilizing USVI street addresses.
Facilitating the manufacture and installation of street name signs in St. John. and will execute the final phase work on St.
Thomas and St. Croix. While we await the manufacture and installation of these signs, you will note that you will have
already seen the illuminated highway signs
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on specified roadways in each island of the territory. GISD continues to partner with the Department of Public Works to
manage the critical infrastructure data sharing program as a cornerstone for the USVI Utilities Coordination Group. It
plays a fundamental part in the success of the implementation of Act 7798, otherwise known as Call Before You Dig
legislation. To realize the goals of the Street Addressing Initiative, GISD, continues to assist various Virgin Islands
communities and homeowners associations in naming streets and their neighborhoods. GISD has been actively talking to
citizens by going into neighborhoods and hosting radio shows. You may believe that everyone has heard the jingle, name
your own, on the radio, or when customers are placed on hold at LGO. GISD also continues to update USVI Road and
estate data on the global OpenStreetMap platform, which is the basis for all global mapping engines such as Google,
Apple Maps, and ESRI. We are pleased to report that phase one of the Benchmark Network Control Project funded by
FEMA at 7.8 million, which installed over 18 new NOAA National Geodetic Survey markers throughout the territory,
has been completed. Additionally, GISD strives to complete Phase 2 of the Benchmark Network Control Project, which
would install survey benchmarks in key residential and estate areas across the Virgin Islands. The benchmarks will
provide useful civil and construction industry standard latitudes, longitudes, and elevations, which will improve more
accurate information for surveying property. In FY2026, GISD has the following goals, complete St. Thomas, St. Croix
and Wata Island
1:14:36
as a part of the territory-wide, complete the phase, final phase of the SAI, facilitate the manufacture and installation of
street signs for the entire territory, complete phase two of the benchmark network control project, which will establish a
more resilient geographic grid for the territory as well as improve our overall GPS capabilities and update all utilities
agencies GIS data in the critical infrastructure data sharing program to facilitate the best implementation of the call
before you dig legislation pursuant to act 7798. We commend the very small yet hardworking and dedicated staff of this
division who have worked tirelessly in the street addressing and street naming initiatives, which will improve and assist
in saving the lives of citizens of this community. Thank you, Administrator L. Chris George and John Gums in the St.
Thomas, St. John District and Pedro Naives in the St. Croix District.
1:16:49
The recorder of deeds, ROD, is responsible for recording and filing of deeds, mortgages, contracts, liens, including
federal and local, releases of mortgages, and all other legal instruments relating to the transfer of title and encumbrances
on all real and personal property. The Recorder of Deeds Office is responsible for the sale of all revenue stamps. In FY
2024, the Recorder of Deeds Office collected $17,569,020 in stamp taxes and other fees. twenty dollars in stamp taxes
and other fees as of june 30th 2025 the recorder of deeds office collected 14 million eight hundred fifty two thousand
seven hundred thirty three dollars in stamp taxes and other fees a 13.4 percent increase compared to fy 2024 rld collected
13 million 100 one thousand eight hundred four dollars in fy 2025 the recorder d's office is estimated to collect 19 million
ninety eight thousand six hundred fifty nine dollars in stamp taxes and other fees that is a 8.7 increase over fy 2024
collections in our testimony last year we stated that one of our goals would be to provide continuous online service to our
customers when there are service interruptions such as those caused by electrical power outages in fy 2025 the contract
with gov os inc provides complete online cloud services therefore we have been able to provide uninterrupted service to
our customers in fy 2026 when negotiating the terms of the new contract we will strive to expand online access to
ownership index cards and estate cards and scan ancient records from the early 1900s into the database, thereby achieving
100 animation of services it offers. In FY 2026, the office will engage in outreach with other divisions such as the
Division of Banking, Insurance, and Financial Regulation to provide brochures regarding the procedure to record
documents. We commend the knowledgeable, experienced, and hard working and dedicated staff of this office for the
crucial service they provide to this community thank you to recorder of dc porsche joseph and louie felix in the st croix
district and recorder of these erica dover ingrid lake and rachel griffin in the st thomas st john district the division of
corporations and trademarks collected seven million eight hundred
1:17:59
forty three thousand five hundred eighty eight dollars and seventy two cents in registration fees filing fees and franchise
fees in fy 2024 as of may 30th 2025 the division collected 3 million five hundred forty six thousand six hundred ninety
three dollars and fifty cents and as of june 30th of 2025 the division has collected seven million forty nine thousand six
hundred ninety $91.38 in registration fees, filing fees, and other franchise taxes. The division experiences highest peak in
collections in the month of June, as June 30th is the deadline for registered entities to pay their franchise taxes. By the
end of FY 2025, the division is estimated to collect $8,600, $9,691.38 in registration fees filing fees and franchise fees
which is a 9.77 percent increase over the revenue collected in fy 2024. in fy 2026 the division is projected to collate
collect eight million five hundred seventy five thousand dollars in fy 2025 based on upgrades to the catalyst system the
division provided online access to all of its registered entities and continues to provide outreach to its users to assist them
in remaining compliant with franchise tax and annual report requirements the division also continued to provide
outstanding customer service in fy 2026 the division projects that additional features will be added to the catalyst system
to include streamlining the system to reduce customer glitches accessing name availability without staff involvement
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adding conversion services from partnerships to corporations and llc's and vice versa and enhancing delivery of services
to customers the division staff are always ready to assist customers and answer any inquiry inquiries thank you to director
denise johannes assistant director laura
Ben Minster, Alomar Hindman, Jeanette Reimer, and Angela Mills in the St. Thomas St. Don District, and Assistant
Director Lynn Isidore in the St. Croix District. The VI SHIP Medicare Program is comprised of two federal programs.
One, the state health insurance assistant program known as SHIP, and two, the Medicare program continues to realize its
mission to the members of this community through education, outreach, counseling, and training. This program provides
medicare information with a team of counselors to provide assistance in person and by phone group presentation and
utilizes a variety of media sources to educate our community about medicare their program offers one-on-one assistance
counseling and education to medicare beneficiaries their families and caregivers to help them make informed decisions
about their care benefits and services support people with limited incomes as well as beneficiaries under the age of 65
with disabilities and individuals who are duly eligible for medicare and medicaid their program proudly delivered
guidance with billing inquiries the medicare appeal process and medicare enrollment and assisted medicare beneficiaries
with enrollment into the medicare prescription plan part d and medicap supplement plans in fy 2025 the program has
fought as a following accomplishments 520 medicare eligible individuals were served at the vi ship offices 367 medicare
eligibility eligible individuals caregivers and family members attended vi ship outreach events their program also
participated in the 2025 usbi wellness fair by distributing educational brochures flyers and other giveaways to over 1100
clients who were in attendance in fy 2026 their program strives to remain as the known and trusted community resource
for medicare information continued services to empower educate and assist medicare eligible individuals their family and
caregivers through outreach counseling and training increased contracts with hard increased contacts rather with hard to
reach medicare beneficiaries who are under the age of 65 enhanced service and outreach for medicare eligible individuals
who are spanish or french speaking with limited english proficiency continue partnerships with centers for medicare and
medicaid puerto rico and virgin islands senior medicare patrol and aarp of the virgin islands and build more community
partnerships and revamp the mental health in the post-covered era grab a whole of it great series providing education on
medicare mental health benefits with presentations from licensed mental health professionals to assist medicare
beneficiaries in understanding and coping with increased feelings of loneliness sadness depression and anxiety caused by
the coveted pandemic in fy 2026 the program will engage in radio public service announcement announcement
campaigns informing the community of vi ship services and medicare coverage options also it is a small office we
commend the experience and dedicated staff of the VI SHIP Medicare program for their hard work and dedication in
assisting the territory's growing aging population in making sound and reasonable health coverage choices. Thank you to
Director Rose Marie Maduro and Macy Mills in St. Thomas and St. Don district and Glenise Herbert and O'Danny Evans
in the St. Croix district.
1:23:02
We commend the experienced and dedicated staff of the VI SHIP Medicare program for their hard work. The Virgin
Islands passport acceptance facilities are the local agencies designated to accept applications for US passports in the
territory. The Virgin Islands falls under the Department of State Bureau of Consular Affairs Miami passport agency in
this region. The Virgin Islands passport acceptance facility plays a role in helping residents of the Virgin Islands obtain
United States passports without having to travel to another u.s jurisdiction the staff in the passport division accepts
passport applications verifies the identity of passport applicants and educates its customers about passport services and
products we are pleased to report that in fy 2024 the st thomas district again ranked in the top 10 for passport acceptance
performance in the region in fiscal year 2024 the amount of revenue collected was $1,300,610. As of June 2025 the
amount of revenue collected was $1,174,222 and the facilities are estimated to collect $1,345,910 in FY 2025 which is a
3.48 increase over fy 2024 the facilities are projected to collect one million three hundred ninety seven thousand three
hundred dollars for fy 2026. the revenue collected by the facilities goes into the general fund in fy 2025 the division
continued its efforts to educate the public on new generation passport travel safety updated passport policies reinforce the
importance of early passport application to to reduce delays and avoid extra fees, work with the San Juan Passport
Agency to support urgent passport needs and compliance readiness, maintain strong community outreach across the
travel safety programs like Smart Traveler Enrollment Program and International Parental Child Abduction and ensured
100% certification for passport acceptance agents through Department of State training. For the third consecutive year,
The St. Thomas district was ranked in the top 10, highlighting continued excellence in passport acceptance services. In
FY 2026, the division strives to increase passport acceptance at local facilities by 20%, increase awareness and use of
passport cards by 25%, and continue to teach travelers how to use the QR code features of their passports. Thank you to
Supervisor Kishma Dorsett and Anton Popol Jr. in the St. Thomas, St. John District, and Supervisor Ruthland Peters and
Malaysia Elisara in the St. Corey District. We commend the small but very dedicated and knowledgeable staff of the
passport acceptance facilities who continue to provide this crucial service to the members of this community. The
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Division of Management Information Systems continues to provide technological support to all divisions within LGO,
including system management, diagnostic support and maintenance for all LGOs, computer and technology systems. The
staff of the division continues to upgrade security measures for the protection of LGOs data and to work with the various
remote vendors contracted by LGOs divisions to create and maintain local systems and assist in contract negotiations
regarding the technological systems that we utilize. We commend the staff of the MIS division their hard work
commitment and dedication in creating a more secure computer environment for lgo staff and ensuring that the goals and
objectives of lgo's many divisions to enhance the services they provide and continue to generate significant revenues
through automation are achieved thank you director lance mckay deanna hunt ludens romney jr in the saint thomas st
Dunn District, Cynthia Codrington, and Carl Derricks in the St. Croix District. The Legal Division plays a critical role in
the day-to-day operations of LGO. Specifically, Legal Counsel plays a critical role in the contract practice for selecting
vendors that are responsible for creating, maintaining, and supporting the systems and databases utilized by LGO's
divisions to provide services and collect revenue. Legal Counsel also drafts other legal documents and legislation needed
for the operations of all LGO's divisions and works closely with the Virgin Islands Department of Justice to bring
resolution to various legal matters
affecting LGO. Additionally, legal counsel also provides legal advice and guidance to the lieutenant governor and the
divisions within LGO regarding their statutory duties and responsibilities. The legal division also oversees the notary
public division which is directly responsible for the regulation of notaries public who are commissioned by the lieutenant
governor to act as servant public servants with the assistance of another LGO employee on the island of st. Croix this
division is staffed by one person who has served in the role of notary supervisor for the last six years she has achieved
membership in esteemed notary or organizations including notary national notary Association the Notary Association of
America and the American association of notaries and demonstrates a steadfast commitment to upholding notarial
integrity and deterring fraud in the virgin islands the fy 2025 accomplishments of notary public's division include
development of a comprehensive notary newsletter notary bulletin to provide valuable updates insights and best practices
for notaries fostering improved communication and professional growth within the notarial community maintenance and
organization of all notarial files to comprehensively verify and update notaries commissions thereby improving
operational efficiency and insurance compliance the notaries republic the notaries public division continues to celebrate
notary public day which is observed on november 7th in fy 2026 the notaries public division strives to provide
standardized training for new notaries implement ongoing continuing education for experienced notaries enhance the
notary public website provide online tools and resources including application forms and faqs develop educational
materials and campaigns to inform the public about notarial services establish clear protocols for handling inquiries and
complaints host regular workshops and seminars to ensure notaries remain current fostering knowledge and collaboration
within the notary community maintaining ongoing notary inspections for all notaries in fy 2024 the notary's public
division collected 42 291 As of June 2025, the division collected $41,030 and is estimated to collect $49,730 in FY 2025,
which is a 17.6% increase over FY 2024.
1:31:44
The division is projected to collect $45,600 for FY 2026. we commend the notaries public division for its hard work
dedication and its many accomplishments thank you Diana P Brown supervisor of the notaries public division and Raquel
Penn assistant to the legal counsel division we would also like to thank and commend Anise Canton Petra Victor and
Augustine Holder who assists the lieutenant governor Roach and operations of the office for their dedication and service
we are pleased to recognize our outstanding employees of the year Jalan James in the st. Thomas district and I'm the st.
Croix district sorry and Jacqueline Jones in the st. Thomas st. John district in addition we thank this legislative body and
senator DeGraff for three interns that worked at the office of lieutenant governor this summer Makai Hart and Kyle
Correa who is actually in the chambers today sitting in the back on my right the other interns have finished their terms
already so she's the only summer intern left with us who who worked in the notaries public division and Donnell
Dominique who worked in the office of the tax assessor in the st. Thomas st. John district the follows up the following
summer interns worked at LGO from the The Summer Youth Work Experience Program, Department of Labor. Tariq
Edwards and Lenise Christopher worked in the Office of the Tax Assessor. Kaitlin Subrati in MIS St. Thomas, St. John
District. And Janiyah Petty worked in the Recorder of D's Office in the St. Croix District. As always, the Lieutenant
Governor, Lieutenant Governor Roach, extends his heartfelt gratitude and appreciation to the employees of the Office of
the Lieutenant Governor, recognizing their continued commitment to service and sacrifice to the Virgin Islands
government and the people of this territory. He would also like to publicly thank the constituents for their input and for
those who have taken the time to call and write to the office to commend the staff for their good work and stellar
customer service. Mr. Chairman, we have presented you with an overview of the Office of Lieutenant Governor's fiscal
year 2025 accomplishments and the fiscal year 2026 goals and objectives which must be achieved to allow LGO to
continue to improve the crucial services provided to the members of this community and to enhance its capabilities to
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continue to collect significant revenues for the government of the Virgin Islands. We thank you and your committee for
this opportunity and hope for your favorable review and response to our requests. We are now ready and available to
answer any questions that you may have.
Thank you very much. Acting Chief of Staff, Nadia Harrigan, you could take a bow. You did well in that presentation
there. Thank you. You're welcome. So now you, I wanna, before I move on to the discussion the budget i want to
welcome the non-committee members senator carla j joseph uh to the committee morning senator welcome have you
received all of your allotment for fiscal year 2025 to date for that farrington uh no senator not all of the allotment yet
what are you what is the delta what are you short where are you sure well they do the allotment on a monthly basis so the
last one would have been as of uh july so we have two more months to go okay so the last year you see of us july it's i
mean you're up to date in terms of your life yes you're up to dating online yes correct any reductions or anything on on
those or you got your full allotment as appropriated full allotment very well um do you are you the recipient of any
federal funds any arpa money any money from insula um affair why we list the federal funds um vi ship they include it in
this information right um so for the public benefit i was just asking whether or not there's any federal funds that you
receive and how much is that well our gis division gets federal funds we're sub-grantee through vi housing finance
authority and uh vitima and the same thing with public assistance funds so we're sub-grantee we're only a direct grantee
for the vi ship medicare very well and in terms of your what is your current revenues to date behind the presentation by
attorney harrigan
1:37:33
Again, our revenues as of June 2025, we have $74,939,992 plus an additional $1,282,024 for the money transmission.
And let me take this opportunity to come in on my colleagues, certainly Senator Marvin Blyden and Senator Maurice
James and those two initiatives that brought in some additional funding to all coffers. Vendors payment, how much do
you owe in vendors payment or do you owe anything in vendors payment at this point?
1:39:32
Well, we have vendor payments in the system. I'm trying to think on the figure off the top of my head. now we've been
working with department of finance to get us through the end of july to see how much we can clear out so we have a
combination of payments that have been made and we do have some in the system i'll have to work up a number for you
okay that's i'm more interested in the ones that's 60 days um and older in the system yes um that i would have to check 60
days and over 60 days and over you don't have any or you'll have to check that i would have to check that i'm sure we
probably have a few okay all right and in um in rental and leases uh how much do you pay in aggregate for rental and
leases at this point and for how many um locations we pay for rental and leases one minute please our post audit is
reflecting 1.4 million dollars in rental and leases um is that correct what page are you on sir rental and leases is on page
yes page eight that looks about right yes that looks about right yes senator and that's one two three four five six seven
eight locations uh yes and tell me is everyone out of uh king king cross street Christian said no we still have the I'm sorry
um Nadia Harrigan acting chief of staff legal counsel no senator the office of the tax assessor is still located on the first
floor of King Cross Street as well as the one employee
1:40:19
that's in GIS okay and at least you intend to extend that lease we could have expired last month just for the first floor
senator just for the first floor so you banking and insurance was on the first banking insurance and financial regulation
was on the third floor and they've vacated the third floor okay so you intend to maintain the lease so obviously it'll be
adjusted from the amount that you're paying now for that lease if you just occupy in the first floor yes your honor it was
built into the lease that way because we we explained that we intended to move from the third floor okay very well and
um what else before i open up the floors my colleagues real quickly in the area of abundant and unclaimed properties i
see that some of those properties go back to 2007. at what point uh do you uh again either uh auction those or or what
happens or tell me what happens uh at what point um because we're talking about some of these properties being 18 years
plus what happens next in that process especially for those that have been there for such extended period of time um mr
lerda are you on i'm sorry glendina i'm sorry attorney matthew good morning thank you director of banking insurance and
financial regulation senator those are not real property they are either bank accounts it could be refunds due by utility
companies insurance companies any financial institution that owes you any kind of refund it would turn be turned over to
the division and we're responsible for getting it to the individuals so these are not real property and they remain available
to consumers or individuals until they're able to claim it but even if the individual themselves are not able to claim it their
family will be able to claim it uh that's understood um attorney matthews so the question
1:42:08
is at what point or what happens next in the process some of these have been on the books for the last 18 years from 2007
what what happened next in the process we just continue to keep them on the books or what effort then is to pass them on
to the family members at this point it remains on the books as we indicated in a testimony we have them available on the
website our lgo website all of the listings from 2007 as well as we do have a new system the avenue system where a
person can also search for any unclaimed property so it will remain available to individuals in this territory uh so even if
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the individual themselves is not able to claim it their family members can claim on their behalf understood all right um
and my last question before i open up to my colleagues at this point is um in terms of those delicate records that's what
you have described as a more festive building what happened to those records that's maintaining those buildings that you
have moved staff from but um records continue to remain in those buildings Senator, what we have been told, Claudette
Farrington, what we have been told is that there are special and unique processes that can address the remediation of such
documents. So besides having more remediation for facilities, there are companies that can facilitate that.
So that's an area that we hope to explore. okay I'll see I'm not initiated that process yet but you intend to explore the
opportunity to save those records before yes very well at this time I'll open up the floor for a five-minute round from my
colleagues and Senator Blyton the order will be going in this morning thus far Senator Blyton Senator VLA Senator
Frederick Senator Angabalquez Senator Maurice James and a college a Joseph Senator Blyton you recognize for your
five minutes thank Thank you so much, Mr. Chair. Good morning. I'm sorry. Yes. Yeah, I missed you. I'll make sure I fit
you in there.
1:46:04
Thank you so much, Mr. Chair. Good morning. To my colleagues, staff, central staff, listening, viewing audience, good
morning. Acting. Acting. No, she's not director. Chief of Staff. Chief of Staff. Acting Chief of Staff, Senator. and council
and your supporting team there again thank you so much for most comprehensive testimony um before i go into the my
questions um in terms of budget let me just state on my frustration though with government as a whole communication
and collaboration between different agencies here it is in your testimony on page 12 you spoke to to anticipating 570
installment plans for property tax payments, et cetera, in order for folks to maintain their homes.
1:46:42
And we have a government program that has over $8 million in it right now to assist individuals to attain this exact goal,
pay your property taxes. If you don't have insurances, hurricane season coming up, help pay your insurance up to
$65,000. It does so much things for homeowners that you're behind in your mortgage payments. It assists you with
getting caught up and we are not communicating. It frustrates me so much. It makes no sense. When these initiatives
come out, that should be shared among different entities. That list that you have, it needs to go to HFA, please, like today.
1:47:39
So they can assist those individuals in assuring that they save their homes. I just wanted to put it out there. It's very
important. Okay? Thank you, sir. Now let's go into your testimony. On page 12, go to page 12. No, that's page 12, I'm
sorry. Page 10 of your testimony. You spoke about folks with accounting backgrounds that's needed to conduct financial
analysis of licensed companies doing business in the territory. That's critical also. Correct? That's correct.
1:48:17
Senator. How much individual do you need to fill in order to accomplish this purpose? How much individual or how
much vacant position do we have? I'll let, if attorney Matthew. Good afternoon, Gladina Matthew, Division of Banking
Insurance and Financial Regulation. we have one open position on St. Croix and we have approximately three open
positions on St. Thomas for the financial services examiner position. There are some other positions open but accounting
backgrounds are not needed for those positions.
1:48:56
The one, those four positions I want to talk to specifically, do you believe the salary where it needs to be at and and if not
what is being done to assure that we can onboard people because those positions are very critical to your operations and
accountability of these companies can someone speak to that please and i thought the reality is um in regards to the
salaries um that that is the challenge um many times you're competing with other agencies who may have higher salaries,
and we're asking for the same requirements for those positions. So I think if we had higher salaries, we would be able to
attract more persons to those positions.
1:49:40
How long have these positions been vacant? These positions have been vacant based on persons being either retiring or
are resigning from the position so it varies maybe two three years depending on when the person had left just my point
that's too long and the role that they play right um how much revenues do we um bring in in that division on annual basis
average one minute And while you're doing that, can someone go to page 8 of the post, I'll just report on a professional
service contracts. I know you had a contract that expired in March of this year. That was $636,609. It was showing
annual payment for 2024. But were all those funds expended? Was all those funds expended? The figure, Senator
Claudette Farrington, the contract expired right now.
1:50:28
Thirty seconds? It's in progress. We're working. It's a contract that has to be continued. It addresses the system for our
division of corporations and trademarks. The figures you're looking at indicate the payments for respective fiscal years.
we're still paying down currently for 2025 okay we normally pay on a monthly basis we normally pay on a monthly basis
okay very well and and did you find the figures for the amount that is collected for division yes for division of banking
insurance and financial regulation, they collected approximately $35 million in fiscal year 2024, and is projected to
collect about $38 million in fiscal year 2025, along with another $2 million plus in money transmission fees.
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Exactly, and they do a lot of work. And my point is, we need to be creative and find a way to adjust those salaries in
order to onboard individuals to assist in carrying on the mission and goal of the division. And I want to thank all of you
for doing a good job, in my opinion, at your division. You collect the most money for the government of the Virgin. I
want to continue to do the work, but let's ramp up a little bit to see how we can be creative and onboarding those
individuals. I want to thank you so much, Mr. Chair, for the time. Thank you for your responses.
1:52:59
uh thank you very much senator blight and i too want to join in commanding the lieutenant governor's office obviously
you're the second wheel on the bus um you know in terms of the funding that comes into the coffers of the virgin islands
and being the chair of budget appropriations and finance certainly i appreciate the efforts that have been made to ensure
that we continue to collect monies and the tune of your projection for fy 2026 is 131 million dollars and we saw where
you're nearing or you're projected to um collect about 128 million dollars during fy 2024. the building that has been
purchased on first bank um has been very concerning to me that you have had that building for quite some time how long
when was when was it that you close on that building um natty harrigan acting chief of staff legal counsel it was february
of 2024 february of 2024 and i heard in your testimony you talk about the prioritization of a number of things that needed
to be done um but i think that um when we look at the your expenditures of 1.4 million dollars in rentals i think it's so
critical that you're able to move into your own building and there is an opportunity there and you know i just wanted to
get from you what is the timeline that have been um set to um place the individual's unit within that purchase new
purchase building um well as i stated in the testimony of nadi harrigan acting chief of staff legal counsel as i said in a
testimony we've begun the process of procuring the two ac units and the condenser I'm not sure how long that's gonna
that process will take hopefully won't be long the process in which to remove the old ones and replace the new ones isn't
going to be a long process so we're hoping that that will come to fruition very shortly within the next couple weeks we
will be doing another assessment inside to determine what exactly needs to be done so we are we have a plot in place to
assiduously address this issue so that we can get moved into the building as soon as possible what's taking so long for the
assessment though you purchased the building you closed on it before you purchased the building you had an idea of how
you were going to utilize the building you i'm sure you had done a walk through and look at the building and make a
determination how you want to retrofit it what's taking so long it's been almost it'll be over a year you know since you've
closed on the building what's taking so long for for you to make a determination, a path forward, and what's needed to
address that.
1:53:29
Nadia Harrigan, acting chief of staff, legal counsel. Understanding it's taken a while, but as stated in a testimony as well,
there were issues, mold issues in other offices that we had to address immediately, not only for the employees of the
office of the lieutenant governor, but also for customers and constituents that would frequent the office to conduct
business. So it got to a point where the mold count excessively high and was adversely affecting even our employees so
we had to address that situation all i can say is moving forward we've begun the process and we are going to move
forward we've spoke to an architect and we have plans on meeting with him and we are going to move forward with this
project as soon as possible thank you for that i just want to say i think that we could walk and chew gum at the same time
and um yeah i think that um again putting these employees in a comfortable especially when you talk about mold fested
um mold is a serious problem in in this territory you know uh and um certainly you have a new building that you're
moving towards you know so i think that there's some opportunity there for you to minimize that mold exposure by
placing them in a in a decent building but that to me is taking some time and i'm hoping that um you know based on your
testimony based on your word here today that we could really see some uh movement in in that yes yes senator well the
office of the recorder deeds is very happy in their new home temporary home yes all right good show uh senator you
recognize for your five minutes thank you thank you mr chair good morning to the people at the virgin alas good morning
colleagues good morning testifiers good morning good morning and um thank you for your testimony If I didn't know the
employees of the lieutenant governor office, I now know each and every one of them by name.
1:56:12
That's right. I know you say the employees are happy, but they're happy at the expense of the government paying rent.
And we purchased a building for almost a million dollars. And the money so that building was allocated when I was back
in the Senate my last term and I've been out for two years. it's been going on four years that we allocated money so those
buildings just so that we could reduce the rent and not seeing the movement you know is disheartening because that is a
nice building first bank was in the building for years the building was usable when we purchased it and by the time we
get in we're gonna hear you have a million other problems because it shut down four years so we we got to get in the bill
and we're paying 272 thousand dollars for the king cross how how much has that been reduced since you're not using the
third floor what's the new amount senator i can't give you an exact amount but it's 18 or 19 000 a month yes it's 19 000 a
month but But the question is, how much will we reduce?
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And I think it's going to go down to a hundred and something. I don't have an exact figure, but a hundred and something
thousand. Okay. And if you're able to get usage of the building of your purchase, would that amount go to zero?
Ultimately, yes. Ultimately, when we move. Can I make a comment, Senator, if you don't mind? You mentioned the
passage of the legislation, which is true. It took a long time to close.
1:59:10
No, I'm just saying, yes, we had to go through the negotiation process. You know, we worked in concert to go through the
negotiation process to arrive at a figure. And we also, we had to get appraisers, which was a... I understand all of that.
Okay, I just wanted to... I do understand the clearly, but remember now that this is July. Yes, I understand. You close in
March. Assessment should have been done. AC units should have been ordered. Do you have sufficient monies for the
AC unit, et cetera, to get that building up and going?
1:59:37
Well, a little help will always be good, Senator, because I know with the passage. I know you're good with numbers. No,
I'm just saying the passage of the legislation, there was some remnants. So if this body would allow us to retain that to
help facilitate with the AC unit, that would be a plus as well. so you didn't use the entire amount uh no and you want to
have access you want to have access to the remainder of the amount to purchase ac units etc exactly it's a small amount
okay so we can have a discussion um right after thank you how many employees you have that are making less than 35
000 we have we have six employees well what's the cost to bring them up to 35 000 okay to include fringe you have that
yeah i need to pull it out okay you go ahead and pull it up and before i move on to other parts one of the one of the unique
uniqueness of being on the finance committee is that you have an opportunity to see the salaries of every single
government department and you're able to make comparison and um from when i left in the 34 to back in the 36 do you
think that your rank and file employees salaries are pretty flat pretty flat not leadership rank and file have not had much
variation over the last four years five years well we have we have implemented as part of the negotiation process we we
implemented salary increases for the rank and file in 2023 2024 and the last implementation was actually for fiscal year
2025. it was what a three percent uh no um it's what was negotiated with their union and what was it do you remember
the average it varied based on the position but um some positions
2:00:11
did better than others but they went up not only vertically horizontally the lower ones could could do better but some of
the higher positions so it varied some positions did very well but others can do better okay when you're doing like three
four percent of a low number it's it is a low number so they the increases is marginal you know you give an increase but
it's really when you equate it out it's really really nothing and i'm looking at a lot of the other government departments
that come in with similar um titles similar position but don't have the responsibility that the lieutenant governor office
have in terms of raising money and their salaries are literally better i'm seeing some department i open my eye and i'm
like wow okay this department doing um pretty well all of the employees one minute and there's an issue okay to answer
your question senator we have six positions that are under the 35 000. okay five of them are filled one is vacant and the
cost to bring them to that level would be uh 30 000. okay and i'm glad we're putting that on the record because there was
a myth out there that this 35 000 is going to broke the government cause financial instability and for some departments
it's marginal there's one vacant position not filled it's not even an additional appropriation it is so easy to give these
individuals a decent salary and some of them are working for these institutions 20 25 years especially those we have that
are custodians and food they're working a long time 30 seconds your number of separations number of separations we
had to include retirees how many what you said that said to include retirees individuals are resigned retired um senator i
stated in this in
2:02:19
the testimony eight separations to include five resignations and two retirements and how many positions are filled we
filled about nine positions we do a lot of in-house promotion so not just bringing people okay so so we are like plus one
yes okay um quickly property tax or what's the outstanding amount owed for property tax they're not not what is not for
this current year but what is the outstanding amount absent this current year that is owed for property tax time um mr
leardon are you still on Yes, Brent Laird, I'm tax collector. The amount owed for property taxes right now is just around
$100 million.
2:04:13
Okay. And that dates back to how long? That dates back to somewhere in the 1970s. Okay. Timeshare, is that finally
together that we're collecting the amount we need to collect for the timeshare units as a result of the legislation that was
passed, or do we still have a large amount of timeshare owners not paying the taxes? There are still consolidation projects
being done by the office of the tax assessor, and they're working through those. They take a very long amount of time, but
they're diligently working on that. Tax assessor can speak more to that.
2:05:07
Okay, so for the current year timeshare units on St. Thomas, you don't really have any timeshare on St. Croix. Are they
submitting en masse the payment? Have we reached our agreement with these timeshare operation that moving forward,
they're going to be billing and then submit the money to the Lieutenant Governor's office as prescribed by the bill? Are
we to the point where we're doing that now? Well, for the consolidation that has been done, specifically with Bluebeards,
2:05:50
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the association is able to do that. But Senator, I would differ with you on the interpretation of that law because it also
gives them the right to pay what they have been paid and leaves the rest of the taxpayers to the tax collector to chase
behind. is nothing entirely how you represent okay but that that is past due amount i'm saying moving forward you're
supposed to enter into agreement with the timeshare association for that particular complex collect all of the taxes from
all of the units and submit that to the lieutenant governor office is that being done that that's the work in progress with the
consolidation plan because once the tax assessor finishes consolidating each association they first have to remit the past
due amounts before we talk about going forward so it's still a work in progress but it is being done this is over five years
ago we're passing legislation to be able to collect taxes that outstanding and all to the people are divorcing now just five
years i got this bill passed five six years we always we could never reach the conclusion in getting anything done and and
and that bothers me you know did this entity does well and i commend all of the workers
but some of these decisions are questionable we're bragging about building the house with the office of lieutenant
governor and the building that we need to move in short thank you mr ju uh thank you very much uh senator uh vla mr
romney you wanted to say anything on that though you wanted to weigh in yes go ahead please recognize the mic mr
romney you may proceed lurence romney tax assessor the The issue with the timeshares is something that we're working
out.
2:07:44
And when it's completed, we will only be receiving one bill. It is not our intention, and we don't think that anybody
besides the government should be making a decision about how and when taxes should be paid. And so once the process
is completed and the rules are set, the timeshares will be paying one, the timeshare association will be paying one bill.
Because part of the confusion is that a timeshare is really not real property. By definition in the code, real property are
immovable. And so once we clarify that matter and things are set, we shouldn't have the situation that we have.
2:08:27
It will be one bill issued to the Condor Association for that. Yeah, that's understood, Mr. Rami. That's the legislation that
was created. I think the question is in terms of the process, the urgency in putting these things in place so that we could
be able to collect on these things. Time is not our friend. We need to take night and make day and move on. We have
these circular discussions as we come to every budget hearing where we keep hearing things are in progress, has started,
we intend to. We really want to know some timelines, some definitive timeline in terms of getting that wrapped up. so
again the question to you is when do you believe you'll be able to close the loop for implementation what has been the
mandate or the orders from the powers to be to make sure that we're moving as per the legislation well i am hoping by the
time the next set of bills come out that uh this matter is closed and there will be one bill to each time share each condo
association for the timeshares okay what is those bills do next that's that's next year june next year june all right yeah
follow up follow up senator you recognize thank you so much when that bill was crafted it was done with legal counsel
for all of the timeshares on st damas one person was representing just about all of them and it was done in conjunction
with the office of the lieutenant governor tell us what you need in the bill to make it work and that is a bill we pass where
if you have 40 units instead of billing 52 individuals a week for each unit times 40 it would be one bill to the association
and they make the payment to the lieutenant governor office at that point
2:09:23
they were associations that had money in escrow that were not paying because they couldn't get the bills reconciled etc so
we devised an easy process one bill lieutenant governor office sent one bill to the association and the association is
responsible to collect the property tax from all the owners for that one unit the 52 owners or how many you have for that
one unit and to know that we're still in the process of trying to reconcile or do anything you know i mean we we got to do
better than that if there's a need to amend something on the bill then come back to this body and and let us know but we
can't have that excuse where at the point associations were saying we have hundreds of thousands of dollars in escrow
that is owed to the government but we can't pay it because we can't reconcile the information that we need thank you so
much mr chair thank you very much senator viale senator college joseph you recognize for your point of information uh
thank you so much mr chairman a pleasant good day to everyone i wanted to just follow up how much staff do you have
mr romney working with you because i'm wondering if it is that you need additional staffing uh to be able to really pull
and move this needle on this issue what what is the ask do you need additional staffing so that you could or assist them
what what is it that is needed for us to be able to move this issue uh quickly along we need additional staff but not
necessarily for that issue for that particular issue uh i think we at some point we may come back to this body to ask to
make some amendments to the bill before we move forward okay thank you for saying that now we we understanding
what some of the the uh hiccups may be all right thank you so much mr chairman thank you senator joseph
2:11:21
son of the graph you recognize we're coming to you senator senator the graph you recognize for your point of information
uh thank you mr chair good good morning uh what is it tax assessor romney that does it yes tax assessor romney uh what
is being done now are we collecting anything at all from the timeshare yes but it's the the confusion is in in some cases
the the timeshare owners are wanting to pay, but it should be the association that is paying. So again, we have to clarify
2:13:22
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some things, and we just need to get some things clarified with some of the associations, because they have issues that
they think is one thing, and we don't agree with them. So we're turning money away? No.
no not at all okay thank you thank you for the time thank you senator the graph senator maurice james you recognize for
your point of information thank you good morning thank you um mr chair i wanted to follow up on the timeshare
question is it that in the virgin islands because i don't know the answer to this the timeshares are not um deeded
timeshares and so they're considered personal property interest or is it can you can you tell me if that's the crux of the
matter because if they were deeded timeshares um i have a deeded timeshare in another state and so you pay property
taxes on it so is that part of the issue i'm i'm just um trying to get some understanding of what's happening with the
timeshare ownership and how it's structured in the Virgin Islands. Thank you Mr. Chair. Thank you Senator James. Mr.
Romney you may respond.
2:14:26
Lawrence Romney, tax assessor. By law the Virgin Islands is supposed to follow the standards of the International
Association of Assessing Officers. The International Association of assessing officers does not consider timeshares to be
real property now there are some states that they tax time shares but they they they tax them because they don't treat them
as real property and they're allowed to tax them under another regime the law says that real property are one of the
definition is immovable So this is part of the contention in the issue in settling the timeshare bills within the Virgin
Islands.
2:15:27
In the past week, I've met with one attorney that represents one of those associations. In the next coming week, I am
meeting with another attorney that deals with that issue. They are saying they have the money to pay. but they want in my
estimation and I'm not trying to put words in their mouth or anything but my understanding is where they're coming from
is they want to determine the how the terms and and and so that's why I said we may need to come back before this body
to clarify and adjust the way the law is written to say things I don't want to speak those details on floor i'd rather speak
with you after to say some of those things and then once we clean those things up we can get that done but basically we
can only tax real property and that's the closest i can come to saying any of the details oh very well just just know that
we're available for that discussion and whatever amendment that's required for us to be able to tie up any loose and or
loopholes within the legislation so that we can move forward on that um at this time the chair We recognize Senator
Hubert, Frederick, you're recognized for your five minutes.
2:16:22
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Good morning, colleagues. A pleasant good morning, testifiers, listening and viewing
audience, my staff and central staff. Good morning, all. Good morning. Good morning. One, two, one, two. Good
morning, everyone. I just wanted to say I was excited that this is a second highest revenue grossing revenue in the
government and they continue to be no one is even close you know you guys are like if this was a horse race you guys
would be way out there so personally normally my approach would be to talk about your costs. But I'm not going to do
that today because you're generating revenues. You're doing what we want most of our agencies, if not all, to do. Try to
generate some money to take the burden, the financial burden, off of us as a community. My concern is on the vacancies.
I wasn't sure there were some inconsistencies your testimony spoke to 91 position on page 3 the post audit there's 29 so
help me out with what's going on with the the variances with the positions claudette farrington senator for fiscal year
2025 i think there might be some misinformation but when the budget was constructed there were constraints in terms of
the number of positions that you could have vacant you know positions that were available initially the thought was
2:17:37
it was limited to five we ended up with six then close to end of finishing the budget we did ask for three additional
position those you've heard of those three real property tax appraiser one it was a process we were having challenges
filling building appraisal position the system appraisal position So we did a revamp, you know, we did a revamp of the
process, updated the specs, changed the names, went through a lot of job fairs and different ways to attract people as a
part of that process. And by doing that, we were fortunate to not only get the three positions, but we were fortunate to
bring on three individuals.
2:19:26
Well, we brought on two new coming in and one was promoted. So back in 2025 with the budget also in terms of the
vacant positions, I don't know if you recall, but many of them were not at a FTE of one. Some of them was 0.5. I don't
want to sit here and say you can't fill half of a position or if it's going to take you half of the fiscal year. So the structure
was different for the general fund positions. We had started out the year with 24 vacancies, and they've been adjusted
because sometimes as soon as you fill a position, we had a position in banking, as soon as we fill a position, somebody
vacates it and move on to our next.
2:20:13
They use us to get their foot in the door, and they move on to another agency that's paying more money. So we have the
position vacant again, and here's our second term in filling it. So that has been some of the challenges we had for fiscal
year 2025. Fortunately, now to me, for fiscal year 2026, it's not structured like that. You are given a ceiling. You are
allowed to work within that ceiling to get, once you address your field position, to get as many vacant positions as you
2:21:01
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could. Which is the 91 as per the testimony?
91 positions as the general fund. all right yes page three page three 91 91 positions um i'm looking at the the post because
when i look at the post audit i i counted um 30 32
2:21:38
People named in this transcript
SUSPECTED, and a finding aid only. Names were matched by machine against the spellings used across all 426 of our transcripts, and the
title is the one used in the room. Being named here is NOT evidence that a person attended or spoke · only that the name was said. Speech
recognition mishears names, so a spelling may be wrong even where no alternative is offered.
6x
Senator Marvin Blyden
heard in this transcript as: Blyden, Blyton
5x
Senator Novelle Francis
the surname alone also matches: Novel E. Francis Jr.; Navelle Francis Jr.
heard in this transcript as: Francis, Francis Jr, Novel E. Francis Jr, Novelli Francis Jr
4x
Senator Marise C. James
the surname alone also matches: Javan James; Giovanni James Sr
heard in this transcript as: James, Maurice James
4x
Senator Ray Fonseca
3x
Senator Dwayne DeGraff
heard in this transcript as: DeGraff, Duane M. DeGraff
3x
Lieutenant Governor Tregenza Roach
heard in this transcript as: Roach
2x
Senator Claudette Farrington
2x
Senator Hubert Frederick
heard in this transcript as: Frederick
2x
Senator Kurt VLA
heard in this transcript as: VLA
Bills and acts referred to
Matched by number against our own acts corpus. The number is what the recognition heard, so it may be wrong; where it resolved, the title is the one
the Legislature gave the act.
Act 8936
Act 8936 · October 16, 2024 · An Act amending title 9 Virgin Islands Code, subchapter II to establish the money
transmission fee and the Money Transmission Revolving Fund per |
Act 7798
Act 7798 · An Act amending tide 31 Virgin Islands Code, Part I. adding chapter 2 requiring notification to the public and
utility companies before undertaking excavation of public or private lands and roadways, enacted by the Thirty- first
Legislature at its regular session held on May 21, 2015, (a copy of which is attached hereto) and vetoed by the Governor
on June 12, 2015, was duly enacted, by override, by the Thirty-first Legislature at its regular session on September 22,
2015, pursuant to section 9(d) of the Revised Organic Act of the Virgin Islands, 48 U.S.C. §1575 (d), notwithstanding the
Governor's veto and has become law. President DATED: 0]2a)zou8 Lwle Jos Neville A. James mew pee · a? 3) 4
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