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HomeNewsArchivesO'BRYAN: $20M SURPLUS NOT 'HARD & FAST NUMBER'

O'BRYAN: $20M SURPLUS NOT 'HARD & FAST NUMBER'

James O'Bryan Jr., special assistant to Gov. Charles W. Turnbull, clarified on Wednesday remarks made earlier this week, when he told the Source that the V.I. government has wound up with a Fiscal Year 2000 budget surplus of $20 million. That is not, he said, "a hard and fast number."
At a Jan. 24 cabinet meeting on St. John, O'Bryan said Tuesday, Finance Commissioner Bernice Turnbull indicated that a preliminary review of government accounts for FY 2000 found a surplus. O'Bryan was eager to make sure the public understands that is a preliminary figure and is subject to change.
"What I want to emphasize is that it's a cash surplus," he said. "We ended the fiscal year with monies in the bank against bills still in the system. But the books are not closed, and we are still anticipating other bills coming in."
He said Gov. Turnbull did not want to announce the surplus during last week's State of the Territory address for fear of misleading the public. "The governor didn't want to make that kind of statement, because we know there are too many variables that could change," he said.
A number of factors may have led to the government being in the black for now, he said. "For one thing, we are coming out of a (teachers') strike during which monies were not paid," O'Bryan said.
A budget surplus would mean that deficit spending has been reversed for the first time in many years. "It does appear that the government ended the fiscal year in better financial condition than it had in several years," O'Bryan said.

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