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Charlotte Amalie
Thursday, March 28, 2024
HomeNewsArchivesCHAMBER RESPONDS TO BOND ISSUE

CHAMBER RESPONDS TO BOND ISSUE

The St. Thomas-St. John Chamber of Commerce is calling on the administration, the Legislature and labor to meet with the private sector to come up with a course of action that will begin to remedy the territory's fiscal crisis.
After the Senate's rejection late Friday of the governor's bond issue bill, chamber president John DeJongh said, "While it is clear that the three alternative options presented at the Oct. 1 legislative session all result in layoffs, the St. Thomas-St. John Chamber of Commerce has never advocated massive layoffs of government employees as a quick fix to the territory's financial crisis."
DeJongh added that raising taxes is unrealistic while business is suffering from severe economic hardship. The time has come for all stakeholders to sit down and hash out the best solutions for addressing the territory's financial crisis, he said.
DeJongh, who chairs the governor's fiscal recovery task force, said everybody is suffering from the government's inability to create an environment for private-sector investment.
It's time for leaders to lead instead of reacting, deJongh said. Decrying the continued pattern of public nit-picking, he said the community must arrive at a consensus to address our financial dilemma because too much is at stake to continue trying to do things the same way we always have.
"It is obvious our community has had enough of business as usual," DeJongh said.
Editor's note: See earlier story on the Senate killing the bond bill.

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