Dear Source:
The cost for the Tourism Web site is way too high. Did Tourism get a quotation from any locals? There are lots of locals here struggling to get by. The Government should have hired locals so the money could go back into the economy. The locals are good enough to work in the USVI Government, why aren't they good enough to do the tourism Web site?
The Governor says the territory is broke. At the prices they are paying for things lately I can believe it. But it isn't the teachers' fault that the Government is spending their money on foolish things.
The Government has to pay their bills first before they go off and spend money like this. Just saying, "Sorry, we're broke", isn't going to work. Especially when we all see that the Government is busy spending $700,000 to off islanders and $57,000 for voting machines from more off islanders.
As the Government sends off our tax money to the states, then there is less of it for us islanders. More of us are forced to leave the islands and then the tax base is further eroded. This kind of spending can't continue because eventually there won't be money left and not enough people to pay all these high property taxes and high WAPA bills.
If the Government continues this kind of spending in the years to come, they too will lose their jobs because money for salaries will be gone to the states along with all the locals. If the senators' salaries are shrunk down to $30,000 then corruption will be an even bigger temptation. These islands will be even worse than they are today (if you can believe that).
I think we need more laws to protect ourselves from this kind of governing. It should not be possible for Government to vote themselves raises etc. when there is such a crisis going on. What can be done to keep the spending in line during a time when the children have no teachers and no books and no buses? What kind of laws can we make to force the Government to act responsibly with our money?
And don't anyone even bother thinking the Feds are going to save us. If we can't save ourselves they aren't going to come in and play parents for us. The territory needs to act like adults and take care of the problems by themselves. The Feds have plenty of other things to do instead of coming in and stepping into our Government and making it act responsibly, that is our job. They can't do it once because if they do it once then they'll have to do it again and again and again. Why should they? Would you want to come in and help people who refuse to help themselves?
C. Larason
