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Waste Management Authority Unveils Fee Schedule

Oct. 30, 2007 — Amid strong objections from the St. Thomas-St. John Chamber of Commerce, and with no Public Services Commission (PSC) members present, the V.I. Waste Management Authority (WMA) laid out its long-awaited schedule of user fees Tuesday at the first of three public hearings.
A continuance of Tuesday's hearing will begin at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday in the PSC office in Barbel Plaza. On St. Croix, the public hearing will be held at 9:30 a.m. Friday at the V.I. Port Authority conference room at the Henry E. Rohlsen Airport.
The fees have been a subject of controversy for years, before and after the WMA was created in 2004. Senators expressed their displeasure in a 2005 meeting when no user fee had been established. (See "Senators Frustrated by WMA lack of Progress.")
WMA executives, one member of the public and Chamber President Tom Brunt testified Tuesday before Lorin Kleeger, PSC hearing examiner, who will submit his recommendation to the PSC on what action should be taken. No date is set for a PSC vote on the fees. Mae Adams Cornwall, WMA executive director, said she anticipates instituting the fees by January 2008.
For hours Tuesday PSC attorney Boyd Sprehn grilled Cornwall; Sonya Nelthropp, WMA chief planning officer; and Deandre Atwell, WMA chief financial officer.
The fees will put a heavy duty tax on just about everything that comes into the territory, from food at seven cents per pound to clothing at 12 cents per pound.
The WMA fee proposal would double the amount customers pay now for public sewer service.
It would increase the amount 15 percent each year for the next 15 years. Currently, property owners hooked up to the sewer system pay $50 a year. The new plan would raise it to $100 for fiscal year 2008. By the time 15 years roll around, property owners could be looking at a $600-a-year bill.
Brunt took issue with the fees. In a prepared statement, he read, "The St. Thomas St. John Chamber of Commerce with its 700 members are adamantly opposed to the imposition of the new taxes proposed by the Waste Management Authority 'User Fee Tariff' schedule that has just been released."
Brunt claims the fees will "create an added burden on all residents of the Virgin Islands in the form of greatly increased costs of living, reduced economic activity, and will preclude any efforts to recycle waste."
No one in the chamber was notified of the PSC hearings, he said. The Source announced the meetings Oct. 25. The V.I. Daily News announced them Monday.
Brunt asked the PSC to "table until further notice any action on the WMA tariff, to allow all of the affected parties time to review the proposal and to respond to these proposed taxes in an informed manner."
The hearing examiner did not act on Brunt's request Tuesday, nor did the WMA representative address his claims, as other testimony from WMA representatives was ongoing.
A team of WMA consultants, led by NJR Consulting Group, provided more background on the fee structure.
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