Gov. Albert Bryan Jr. found himself fielding tough questions during a press conference on Monday after vetoing a $45,000 appropriation to rename a road in honor of former Gov. Kenneth Mapp while simultaneously approving $1.1 million for a track and field project.
The decisions, made on a stack of bills coming out of the most recent legislative session, were laid out over the weekend in a transmittal letter to Senate President Novelle Francis and framed against the context of the territory’s $91 million budget shortfall.
While he acknowledged Mapp’s contributions to the Virgin Islands in his letter, Bryan also cited the financial constraints as the key reason for his veto.
“As a governor, I recognize Gov. Mapp and his contribution to the Virgin Islands, however by contrast, the Legislature recently chastised the administration for attempting to assist over 100,000 people in the aftermath of Hurricane Beryl, and l am confident in your support for denying the expenditure of $45,000 for the commemoration of a single person,” Bryan wrote. “As was expressed by the sentiment of the body, allocating this large sum for such a non-critical purpose is not appropriate at a time when we are facing a large budget deficit and declining revenue collections.”
During Monday’s press conference, Bryan also expressed surprise that a majority-Democrat Legislature would consider honoring a non-Democratic governor. “It would be like President Biden signing on to honor President Trump—that would never happen. You would never have a Democratic Congress put forth an amendment to honor a Republican governor. I wonder why no one is asking those questions.”
Meanwhile, when questioned during the presser about his approval of a $1.1 million appropriation from the School Maintenance and Construction Fund for the Ivanna Eudora Kean High School track and field project, Bryan explained that the track project was part of a broader initiative to develop the Nazareth area into a sports tourism hub, which includes plans for a cricket facility, a Sprung shelter gymnasium by the Olympic Committee and a potential soccer field with support from FIFA.
“We’re developing that entire Nazareth area,” Bryan explained. “The $1.1 million is just the start, but I wanted to make the money available in case we had some extra funds. We still need a real assessment from an A&E firm, but I didn’t want to stand in the way of fixing the track and promoting sports tourism.”
As the conversation shifted to the state of the territory’s schools, Bryan was pressed by a V.I. Daily News reporter on how he could justify the track funding when schools are experiencing significant maintenance issues. Bryan acknowledged the challenges but emphasized the complexity of the situation.
“Every year, I’m amazed that people think we could wave a magic wand and the schools will be new,” Bryan said. “We have a lot of schools, and they are old schools with real maintenance nightmares. We’ve got over 100 air conditioning units, each requiring separate maintenance. It’s a struggle to keep these old buildings up and running.”
Craig Benjamin, the head of the newly established Bureau of School Maintenance and Construction, who was on leave as public schools reopened last week, was praised by Bryan, who said, “I think it’s going really well. We got him in late this summer, so the priority right now is making sure we’re good on the new school contracts that are going forward.”
The irony of the situation was further underscored as Bryan expressed frustration with the challenges posed by the Education Department’s third-party fiduciary, which was put in place in 2004 to ensure proper spending of funds after millions were sent back to the federal government. According to the governor, this process has also slowed down necessary maintenance projects.
“We’re having a terrible time with the third-party fiduciary,” Bryan said. “While we appreciate their concern for how we spend the money, we also need to get a fiduciary who is responsible for making sure we spend the money, too.”
To address these challenges, Bryan revealed that an RFP (Request for Proposal) is currently out to evaluate new fiduciary options. “There are a lot of things going on all at the same time,” Bryan continued. “The school maintenance issues are real—like at Eulalie Rivera, where we’re dealing with old modulars that have been a nightmare to maintain. We have a lot of money to spend, but the systems in place are making it difficult to manage our maintenance well.”
As Bryan discussed the ongoing maintenance struggles, including outdated electrical systems and the complexities of maintaining air conditioning units in old buildings, he emphasized that these challenges are part of a larger problem with infrastructure. “It’s a real maintenance nightmare trying to keep everything up and running,” he said.
The governor’s comments also touched on the difficulties of balancing long-term infrastructure needs with immediate budget constraints, particularly when significant funds are tied up in bureaucratic processes. “We’ve got schools that need massive repairs, but putting money into buildings we might tear down in a year or two isn’t prudent. And when you do permanent repairs, those are taken off of the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s books in terms of your obligations,” he said.
