Senators questioned the Office of the Governor’s proposed fiscal year 2027 spending plan Thursday, which totals about $14.4 million, focusing on vacant positions, healthcare technology, violence prevention and the transition to a new administration.
The Senate Budget, Appropriations and Finance Committee met Thursday to review the Office of the Governor and several offices under its umbrella, including economic research, gun violence prevention and health information technology. The Bryan-Roach administration is seeking a total of $14,376,600 for FY 2027, including $11,008,099 for the Office of the Governor, $917,368 for the Bureau of Economic Research, $716,133 for the Office of Gun Violence Prevention, $1.435 million for miscellaneous special activities and $300,000 from the Tourism Revolving Fund.
The Office of the Governor’s General Fund request includes about $6.7 million for personnel, or 52.8% of the budget. The plan funds 82 full‑time positions, one part‑time position and seven vacant positions.
Chief of Staff Kevin A. Williams Sr. said the vacant positions are fully funded to give the next administration flexibility to fill them. Sen. Kurt Vialet questioned that approach, pointing to lower‑than‑projected personnel spending this year and arguing that vacant positions could be funded at 50% while the remaining money is reallocated.
The hearing also covered salary adjustments. Williams said seven employees earning below $35,000 received raises to meet the minimum threshold, and other staff received $5,000 adjustments to maintain internal equity. Director of Business and Administration Joycelyn Durant said the total increase in personal services was $334,000.
The budget includes $295,000 in capital outlay for “the replacement of major office equipment,” the purchase of one new vehicle, a generator and air conditioning repairs at Government House on St. Croix and “other minor renovations” at the St. John Battery, Williams said. He told senators the administration is also continuing disaster recovery work on Government House facilities and the legal and administrative building on St. Thomas, describing the latter as “about a year and a half or so out.” The proposal also sets aside $300,000 for inauguration services for the incoming administration, which Williams said was increased from the historical $250,000 due to inflation.
Williams said the Office of the Governor is also commissioning a portrait of former Gov. Kenneth Mapp and a documentary on the Bryan-Roach administration. He told senators the documentary contract was competitively awarded to Media One for $135,000 after nine vendors responded, with some bids “over $1 million.” He said about $45,000 has been paid so far, with another $50,000 invoice pending as filming concludes and the project moves into post‑production.
The Office of Health Information Technology is allocated $250,000 in local funding in the proposed FY 2027 budget, down from $400,000 in FY 2026, but Executive Director Michelle Francis told senators the office needs $807,000 to operate. Francis said OHIT administered more than $700,000 in federal funds during 2026, including $370,033 in subgrants to hospitals, health centers and behavioral health providers for cybersecurity, disaster recovery, patient data security and access to care.
She said the office also invested $330,000 in specialized expertise to expand the Virgin Islands Health Information Exchange and advance health IT infrastructure and governance projects. Francis said the territory is losing approximately $86 million in patient care revenue, including $30 million spent on transportation alone, and told senators hospitals have incurred $20 million and growing in losses related to cyberattacks and fragmented health systems.
“When your system is breached and you don’t have a master patient index, you cannot match patients to bills, so billing went down,” she said, adding that manual and siloed processes, repeated laboratory work and disconnected patient records contribute to unreimbursed costs.
Investments in the Health Information Exchange and a proposed Health Data Utility could produce an estimated 7% to 10% reduction in losses, she said.
Sen. Novelle E. Francis Jr., the committee chair, called addressing OHIT’s needs “vital for us to be able to address” and said there are “some opportunities” to cover the request by using vacancy savings in the Office of the Governor’s budget.
The Bureau of Economic Research requested $1.217 million, including $917,368 from the general fund and $300,000 from the Tourism Revolving Fund. Director Haldane Davies said BER’s work includes economic data collection, consumer price statistics, inflation monitoring and revenue forecasting.
Davies said the model will allow the government to evaluate revenue scenarios and adjust assumptions in real time as it prepares future budgets, while Senior Project Analyst Bernesha Liburd described it as a tool for forecasting revenue and assessing possible scenarios and outcomes of investments.
The Office of Gun Violence Prevention requested $941,133, including $716,133 in general funds and $225,000 from miscellaneous funds. Executive Director Antonio Emanuel defended the office’s violence interruption and mentorship programs after senators questioned the territory’s homicide rate and its coordination with police.
Emanuel said OGVP has helped reduce serious school violence, citing 27 such incidents last year compared with 125 in 2022, and said there were 35 homicides last year compared with 56 in 2022.
Williams said the administration is working to improve OGVP’s data collection so it can better measure which interventions are effective and told senators that responding to violence will require efforts from families, the community and law enforcement, not just one agency.
