Virgin Islands Gov. Mapp Says High Salaries Of Local Officials Not Priority
ST. CROIX — With the government facing a $110 million budget deficit and looking for ways to trim its operations, a resident challenged Governor Kenneth Mapp on talk radio on Thursday to consider lowering his salary.
But Mr. Mapp, sounding irritated, told the caller that his salary — $150,000 annually — or that of the lieutenant governor and lawmakers for that matter, were the least of his worries.
While the resident — who called in to the Mario Moorhead talk show on WDHP 1620 A.M. on Thursday afternoon — was still expressing herself, Mr. Mapp interrupted her to make is point.
“Alright, so let’s put it in numbers,” Mr. Mapp began. “So pay the governor $50,000, right? So you just saved $100,000 on my salary. Pay the lieutenant governor $50,000, you save $75,000, right? So now you’re at $125,000. And cut each senator (by) $30,000, so you multiple that times 50 — you don’t have a half a million dollars,” Mr. Mapp said. “You could do that and say, ‘fine, now we have done something, and now they’re getting paid what we think they earn.’ What I’m trying to suggest to you is that rather than go through the political hoops to say we’re doing something like that, it seems to be symbolic.
Read more: http://viconsortium.com/featured/financial-crisis-mapp-says-high-salaries-local-officials-not-priority/
[font color=330099]The governor has a problem with math. Senators are paid $85,000 and so if the salaries are cut for the 50 senators by $30,000 each, then that is equal to $1.5 million dollars. That means that the senators are still paid $55,000 which is more than either the governor or lieutenant governor would receive after their cuts. So why not cut the senator's salaries by $40,000 instead so that they earn $45,000 while the lieutenant governor and you still earn $50,000? With those suggested cuts, the Virgin Islands would save $2.125 million dollars which is getting close to 2% of the total deficit. While that does not cove the entire deficit, it is a substantial start. In addition your salary is excessive for an island with only about 100,000 people. Considering the declining bond rating of the territory and that the government only has cash reserves for six days, it certainly seems prudent to make those cuts when the alternative is for all government employees to receive no paycheck whatsoever.
Please note that I do typically support adequate pay for government employees since I was one myself, but I'm also a pragmatist and know that public service also requires sacrifices. It is sound public policy for the cuts to come at the top by those most able to afford those cuts rather than placing the burden on the employees at lower levels and on the taxpayers.[/font]
