Jan. 31, 2003 – All V.I. government department and agency heads and other top management and supervisory officers have been asked by Gov. Charles. W. Turnbull to submit their undated resignations to him in the coming week.
A brief release from Government House issued Friday afternoon said Turnbull had sent a memorandum to all department and agency heads requesting the resignations. It quoted from the memo:
"I am hereby requesting from all department and agency heads, all senior management and supervisory officers, including employees holding positions of a confidential or policy determining nature, who are in the exempt/unclassified services, the submission of their undated resignations, to be accepted at my pleasure, to me no later than 5 p.m. Friday, Feb. 7."
The governor asked that the recipients of the memo see that it was distributed "to all affected persons in a timely fashion."
Lee Vanterpool, a Government House public information officer, reached by telephone Friday night, said he had not been in the Public Information Office during the day, was not aware of the memo and could not say whether the timing of the request was related to anything other than the routine start of a new administration.
James O'Bryan, the governor's assistant for public affairs, did not reply to a message seeking comment.
All appointed executive branch employees serve at the pleasure of the governor.
Friday's move could be routine, or it could signal coming fiscal austerity moves, or it could conceivably be in response to controversial testimony this week in District Court involving some top public officials.
Testimony before the Senate at two hearings on Tuesday established that the government is in severe economic straits.
Ira Mills, director of the Office of Management and Budget, told the Committee of the Whole that the latest revenue update for Fiscal Year 2003 "indicated that collections are now projected at $532.7 million against current appropriations of $587.7 million."
Mills said the looming deficit will mean a significant reduction in planned expenditures, a reduction that must be shared by all branches of government. "We have begun to address this by reducing our first- and second-quarter allotments for FY2003," he said.
Finance Commissioner Bernice Turnbull told the committee that the General Fund as of that date had $18.7 in it and that the government payroll every two weeks is $14.2 million. She said the administration's financial team meets every week to figure out how to get by, going over "day to day" finances.
A little later, before the Senate Finance Committee, Bernice Turnbull said of the fiscal crisis that "none of us know what will happen, what we will be faced with." She said February would be difficult. "No immediate payless paydays in the next two weeks; after that, I don't know."
It is customary at the time of a change in administration in virtually all levels of government for appointive officials to submit their resignations. The current administration has been in place for a little more than four years, with Turnbull having just been inaugurated as governor on Jan. 6 for a second four-year term.
Publisher's note : Like the St. Thomas Source now? Find out how you can love us twice as much — and show your support for the islands' free and independent news voice … click here.
