Senate Committee Discusses WAPA Woes in Emergency Meeting

The government agencies that testified at Wednesday’s Senate hearing about their financial crises said their revenues, including government allotments, were not sufficient to pay their bills — even their electric bills.

The Budget, Appropriations and Finance Committee’s hearing about the current financial crisis of the V.I. Water and Power Authority follows numerous power outages in the Virgin Islands over the last few weeks. Although a rotating schedule of outages was available, most of the blackouts didn’t follow the feeder schedule.

Luis Sylvester, deputy executive director of the V.I. Waste Management Authority, said the agency will be seeking fees and allotments from the Public Services Commission to cover solid waste disposal and trash collection fees “to develop appropriate funding.” Sylvester said WAPA had not been paid for 29 months — the bills averaging around $220,000 monthly. He said they weren’t paid “because the agency is still underfunded by nearly $10 million. WMA expenses are $53.1 million but the government allotment is $40.5 million.”

Schneider Regional Medical Center currently owes $2.8 million to WAPA. Chief Executive Officer Tina Comissiong said the V.I. Health Department should be contributing around $262,880 towards the hospital’s WAPA bill. The average bill is $379,000 a month and $275,000 is deducted from the GVI monthly allotment for SRMC to pay the authority. Other government agencies that owe the medical center $5.6 million include the Bureau of Corrections, the Labor Department, the Health Department, and the Human Services Department. The St. Thomas facility needs $41 million from the government to best serve the community, Comissiong said. According to law, the territory’s hospitals must treat everyone who seeks medical help, whether or not they can pay.