US Virgin Islands in fiscal trouble

CHARLOTTE AMALIE, U.S. Virgin Islands (AP) – Decades of government mismanagement has left the U.S. Virgin Islands mired in red ink, Gov. John deJongh Jr. told a civic group Saturday.

DeJongh, a financial adviser to Caribbean governments and businesses before he became the three–island U.S. territory’s top official in January, said a thorough fiscal review has found that accumulated debt has reached nearly US$3 billion much more than he had anticipated.

"As bad as I imagined the situation to be, what ... I found is far worse. Successive administrations have built a mountain of debt on a house of cards," deJongh told the islands’ League of Women Voters.

DeJongh, who replaced two–term governor Charles Turnbull, said cumulative debt was at unsustainable levels due to years of issuing bond packages to help pay annual operating costs. He accused previous administrations of consistently overlooking the government’s long–term budget outlook.

"For years we’ve accumulated mountains of back pay to our government workers. All the while the government and the workers lived with the fiction that it would all be paid someday and somehow," deJongh said.

DeJongh said fixing the territory’s poor fiscal health had to be given priority and that his administration would not allow unfunded liabilities to compound further.

Islandia Real Estate is blogging

Via Frank Barnako's News Of St. John I see that Islandia Real Estate has started a blog - interesting stuff, we wish them good luck with it.

St. John Zoning Regulations

The St. John Board of Realtors website has a good page for St. John Zoning Regulations including information on R-1 Residential - Low Density, R-2 Residential - Low Density One and Two Family, and W-1 Waterfront Pleasure.

An example:

"R-1 Residential - Low Density Much of the land in the Virgin Islands is hilly or mountainous with steep slopes and a minimum amount of soil over a rocky subsurface. These areas are being used for residential purposes, with sewage disposal by means of septic tanks. The minimum lot area for such use should be one-half (1/2) acre, and even this minimum is questionable with respect to adequate disposal of sewage without surfacing of effluent to disturb one's neighbor. Fortunately, there is no conflict with wells that supply drinking water. These zones should be carefully located in relation to subdivision regulations."

Much more here.

Chamber After Hours April 19th

Principal involved in school with dubious credentials

Questions raised about a St. Croix "diploma mill"

"In January, the school's accreditation was revoked by the Virgin Islands' new governor, less than two months after it was granted by the territory's acting commissioner of education.

Published reports in the Virgin Islands have accused Knisley and officials of the International Graduate Center of running a diploma mill – institutions of higher education that provide degrees for few credit hours and at higher-than-usual tuition."

Chamber of Commerce Business After Hours

Relocating to the U.S. Virgin Islands: Services - Water, Garbage, Power and Gas

Household water is generally provided by rainfall collected in cisterns. Each house has a cistern built into the basement level of the house. Water is collected on the roof, fed into the cistern and pumped into the house. For drinking water, many people purchase bottled water or install a water filtration device on their sink and/or between the cistern and their water pump. During dry spells it may be necessary to purchase additional water. A large full truck of water is just over 5,000 gallons and costs about $285. The only exceptions to this method are in downtown locations that are connected to public water (WAPA).

There is no household garbage pickup in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Each household is responsible for taking their garbage to public dumpsters located in most neighborhoods throughout the islands. Public Works empties each dumpster regularly. Recycling is possible but not prevalent on the islands - private companies offer drop spots for recyclable waste.

Electricity is provided by the U.S.V.I. Water and Power Authority (WAPA). Electricity is 110/120 volts, so no conversion is needed for plugs of standard U.S. appliances. Power occasionally and unexpectedly goes out in the U.S.V.I. (usually only briefly, but sometimes for an entire evening), so flashlights, candles and a gas stove or grill are always good to have on hand during those times. It’s also advisable to use surge protectors on all electronic equipment.

Although there are no natural gas pipelines, gas appliances use bottled propane gas, which is available from private suppliers (at approximately $60. a tank).

In general, water and power are two things you can count on paying much more for in the Virgin Islands than in the U.S. However, you will never have a winter heating bill, and if you live on a hillside, you may also never need air conditioning or to buy water. If you are very energy conscious and/or on a budget, seek a location for your home or apartment that is known to have good rainfall and is as high up a hillside as possible (there two things usually go hand in hand - the rise in elevation means cooler aire, which also leads to condensation and more rain - of course you may then have mold problems...).