Plaskett Likes Gov’s Plan But Concerned About Follow Through

Governor Albert Bryan, Jr. touched on a multitude of federally-funded spending plans for the territory in his State-Of-The-Territory address Monday night. These high-hopes lists are something of an unofficial tradition for the annual speech — outlining how money allocated in Washington D.C. can help bolster infrastructure projects in the Virgin Islands.

Another, less-fun unofficial tradition was taking place as Delegate Stacey Plaskett watched the speech from her congressional office: She worried if the funding for which she and her team had pushed so hard would actually reach the people for whom it was intended.

“I’m grateful he has a plan, but of course, the devil is in the details,” Plaskett said shortly after the governor’s speech.

Spending for roads, sewer systems, healthcare, and more were all on Bryan’s list, and each carries procedural hurdles. Plaskett singled out education, noting V.I. kids have dealt with hurricanes, COVID, and a lack of equipment and support to deal with those disasters.

“It’s really important to me to make sure that that funding is not caught up in local red tape, local bureaucracy, and actually gets to our children,” she said. “It’s really important to make sure that our children have this money, that our teachers have this money.”

Federal funds need to be spent in specific ways within specific timeframes outlined in each allocation. If they aren’t, Washington can potentially claw the money back or direct it to some other use.

Bryan pointed this out himself during the speech, noting local agencies navigate FEMA’s bureaucracy to access the funds and then need to follow through on using them.