74.7 F
Charlotte Amalie
Thursday, March 28, 2024
HomeNewsArchivesADMINISTRATION HAS 52 FUNDS OF ITS OWN

ADMINISTRATION HAS 52 FUNDS OF ITS OWN

Sen. Lorraine Berry got an answer at Wednesday's Finance Committee meeting to a question she posed to Finance Commissioner Bernice Turnbull last month.
At that time, Turnbull had referred to "administratively created funds," a term which puzzled Berry, who chairs the Finance Committee.
In a questionnaire that Berry sent out to a dozen top government finance and legal officers in preparation for Wednesday's meeting, Berry had asked what and where these funds were.
The matter of the administrative funds had come up when Gov. Charles W. Turnbull proposed transferring unused balances from some of them, reportedly totaling more than $3 million, to the Government Insurance Fund to pay Workers' Compensation claims.
In response to Berry's questionnaire, Rudoph Krigger, the governor's assistant for fiscal and economic affairs, supplied a list of 52 funds, but not their balances. Turnbull said she would have the dollar figures by July 1.
What apparently is the oldest fund, dating from 1959, was created for an egg inspection program. In 1985, according to a memo from then-Finance Commissioner Claude Christian, a Transcultural Nursing Conference Fund was started which was to exist "for the duration of the nursing conference." These and the 50 other funds are still on the books.
Krigger presented an extensive written report on the territory's fiscal picture at the Finance Committee meeting. Among the items in his report is one titled "Overview of Fund Accounting." Its introduction states: "Fund accounting is based on the simple idea that, unlike commercial enterprises, a government unit treats its resources not as a fungible mass, but as a number of pools dedicated to specific purposes." Fifty-two of them, in this case.
Here are the funds listed in Krigger's report:
Air & Water Pollution Control
Americorps National Services
Anti-recession Fiscal Asst. Prgm
Area Manpower Planning Secretariat
Boating Safety Program
Bond Proceeds Clearing
Caribbean Basin Initiative
Comm. For Hum Resources
Commission On Aging
Community Renewal Planning
Criminal Intelligence Unit
Debt Service Fund
Drug Education Training Prgm.
Economic Development
Egg Product Inspection
Emergency Employment
Emergency School Assistance
Environmental Protection
Fed Prgms/ Dept Conservation
FICA Taxes Withheld Fund
Film Production Revolving
Fisheries & Wildlife Projects
FMHA Water System Construction. & Repair
Head Start Program
Health Highway Safety
Health Ins & Medical Asst Prgm
Intergovernmental Personnel
Land Division Trust Fund
Major Disaster Assistance
Manpower Development & Training
National Defense Education
Neighborhood Youth Corps – in School
Neighborhood Youth Corps -Out School
Occupational Safety & Health
Outdoor Recreation Prgm
Private Don-Youth Rehab
Public Transit Fund
Series E Bonds Account
Social Services Title XX
Supplemental Food Prgm Wic
Trans-Cult Nurse Conference
Unemployment Ins Benefit
Unemployment Ins Penalty
Unemployment Ins Special Prgm
VI Energy Office
VI Law Enforcement
VI Opportunities Industrialization
VI Planning Board Projects
Vocational Education
Water System Repair & Construction
Work Incentive Program
Youth Conservation Corps

Print Friendly, PDF & Email
Keeping our community informed is our top priority.
If you have a news tip to share, please call or text us at 340-228-8784.

Support local + independent journalism in the U.S. Virgin Islands

Unlike many news organizations, we haven't put up a paywall – we want to keep our journalism as accessible as we can. Our independent journalism costs time, money and hard work to keep you informed, but we do it because we believe that it matters. We know that informed communities are empowered ones. If you appreciate our reporting and want to help make our future more secure, please consider donating.