Governor Albert Bryan Jr. sent down his Fiscal Year Executive Budget Proposal to the 35th Legislature on Tuesday, May 30, which totals $1.4 billion in expenditures.
“Once again, we submitted two years of budgeting,” Governor Bryan said during Tuesday’s weekly Government House briefing. “We think that’s a good way for the Legislature and for us to forecast what is to come. “Revenues are up we’re predicting. We have growth for every year the Bryan-Roach Administration has been in office, so we want to continue that.”
The FY 2024-2025 Executive Budget proposal breaks down to $969 million for the General Fund, $334.9 million in federal funds, $84.3 million in other funds and $35.2 million in non-appropriated funds.
Included in the FY 2024-2025 Executive Budget are $25 million in retroactive wages to retirees and those who are owed union wages.
“We made a commitment to do it every years, and it’s in here again,” Governor Bryan said.
The Governor said the FY 2024-2025 Executive Budget also takes and converts the Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recover (CDBG-DR) section of the grant from the Department of Housing and Urban Development and puts it under the Office of Disaster Recovery.
“We’re really making this move to make sure that we can let the Virgin Islands Housing Finance Authority focus on housing,” Governor Bryan said. “We’re having a real housing crisis. I don’t need to tell any of you that.”