For the second time, the Senate Finance Committee Friday held Gov. Charles W. Turnbull's proposal to amend the industrial development law to increase fees and penalties for noncompliance and to allow beneficiaries an extra three years of future tax breaks in exchange for forgoing them in fiscal years 2001 and 2002.
In an analysis prepared for the committee, legislative Post Auditor Campbell Malone criticized the bill as being an attempt at reform but "wholly without teeth."
With respect to the exchange agreement, "the bill does not mandate or otherwise direct or compel anyone to get the word out to the IDC beneficiaries," Malone said. It is impossible to estimate how many would take advantage of the offer and what that would mean in revenues in FY 2001 and FY 2002.
As for the new fee structure, Malone said it cannot apply to existing beneficiaries since they have contracts with the government that cannot be altered without their consent. The bill should specify that the changes would apply to new beneficiaries, he said.
Malone also questioned some of the language of the bill as being ambiguous.
The IDC bill was one of three held by the committee, which is scheduled to meet Tuesday and Wednesday to complete its work on the budget. It has 16 bills left, including those held Friday.
The committee did clear five budget bills from its agenda, all of them relatively noncontroversial.
Approved was a bill to appropriate $500,000 from the Tourism Revolving Fund to the Department of Housing, Parks and Recreation, with $300,000 of it earmarked for the Virgin Islands Carnival, $150,000 for the St. Croix Christmas Festival, and $50,000 for the St. John July 4th Celebration. The senators removed from the bill another appropriation that was an error, $500,000 for Youth World Basketball.
They approved a new administration version of a bill to appropriate money from the Internal Revenue Matching Fund which is funded by taxes collected on rum exports. The administration increased the appropriation because of an increase in rum revenues.
The bill transfers $14.2 million into the General Fund and it also appropriates $4.9 million for school bus transportation, $1.3 million for maintenance and repair of schools, $300,000 for Beacon Schools, $200,000 for Continuing Adult Education, $200,000 for awards to government employees, and $600,000 for a Summer Youth Employment program.
The committee also reported out the following appropriations bills:
– $1.9 million from the Interest Earned on Bond Proceeds to the General Fund;
– $3.1 million from the Caribbean Basin Initiative Fund for Labor, Workman's Compensation and Occupational Safety and Health;
– $1.8 million to the Business and Commercial Properties Revolving Fund.
It held appropriations bills from the Interest Revenue Fund and the Transportation Revolving Fund to clarify figures in them.
