Major USVI Funds are Showing Negative Balances, and Senators Want to Know What's Going On
At the end of a Department of Finance budget hearing Thursday, Committee Chairman Senator Kurt Vialet stated that D.O.F. would “more than likely” be called back to the Senate during budget markup following concerns raised by lawmakers regarding important government funding channels showing negative balances.
The two largest negative balances spotted were the Caribbean Basin Initiative Fund and the Internal Revenue Matching Fund, which in an update provided by the department’s officials totaled $35 million as of June.
Senator Carla Joseph sought to learn whether the balances in government funds that D.O.F. has oversight of as listed in the Post Audit Report were accurate. She also queried how frequently those balances are reconciled because of the large negative balances.
The senator was told by Ebony Serrano, D.O.F. director of accounting operations and financial reporting, that the funds' balances are “as accurate as the information provided in there.”
Read more: https://viconsortium.com/vi-economy/virgin-islands-department-of-finance-likely-to-be-called-back-during-budget-mark-up-for-clarification-and-asked-by-finance-chair-to-scrub-the-numbers-