Senate President Almando "Rocky" Liburd said Thursday he will release financial information next week on the 24th Legislature that has been requested repeatedly by the press, the public and other senators for weeks.
Sens. Emmett Hansen II and Adlah "Foncie" Donastorg wrote a strongly worded letter to Liburd earlier this week, requesting information on "budgetary details, staffing allotments and information on the more than $40,000 spent on last month's junket to Washington, D.C." The senators warned Liburd that the 24th Legislature could be sued for withholding public records.
Hansen said he had spoken with Liburd Thursday morning, and Liburd told him the information would be forthcoming next week. Hansen said he was at a loss when people called his office requesting the information.
Liburd said Thursday, "It's not something I have refused to do. From the day we took office, I have indicated I would release the information as soon as we have it together, and everything is ready to go."
He said he has had to tackle problems from the outset.
"The reason we are taking so long," Liburd said, "is that we are dealing with a major cut, over $1 million, along with unanticipated expenses."
He said he was threatened with a court action by John Byrd, vice president of MTI, the company that installed the Legislature's $57,000 electronic voting system late last year. The system, still not in use, was only half paid for, Liburd said, a situation of which he had been unaware.
"There was a mixup," Liburd said. "The system was to have been paid for through capital monies, but was paid through regular monies of the Legislature." Liburd said he had spoken with Byrd and resolved the matter, as well as a problem with the system concerning a glitch in parliamentary procedure that the system didn't reflect.
Liburd cited the recent Legislature audit by the U.S. Interior Department's inspector general as another major hurdle. The audit found the Legislature violated the V.I. Code by spending $1.16 million more than it was allotted in Fiscal Year 1999, thus contributing to the government's operating deficit, and circumvented Finance Department rules by using its imprest fund "as a revolving expense account" to pay hundreds of thousands for salary advances, travel items and other services.
The audit covered the fiscal years 1997-99. It found that in 1999, the Legislature underspent its appropriation by $373,602 but overspent the amount actually allotted to it by the V.I. Office of Management and Budget by $1,158,541.
Another hurdle is reconciling bills from the first quarter, which have piled up, Liburd said. "We have to get a starting point. There are bills left over because of the way the system is set up."
Asked about the minimal allotments for the committees on Health and Hospitals and Youth and Human Services, both chaired by minority bloc senators, Liburd said, "No changes are going to be made. They are the same; they're not going to change."
Liburd said all the senators' allotments, committee allotments and information on expenses incurred on the senators' Washington, D.C., trip last month would be included in the information to be made public next week.
Liburd said he made it clear when he was in the 21st Legislature that he would "not hide any information from the public. It's the government's money, not my money," Liburd said.
