After the territory went ahead and did “the thing” in the Nov. 7, 2011 elections, is this how the National Democratic Party repays civil servants? By cutting their increments in half? Wow! Why are civil servants paying the price for the financial situation of the entire territory? Disgruntled employees will only make for a poor public service, my dear members of Cabinet.

While I am adamantly opposed to this cut in our increment, I must say that I believe that as public servants we have played a significant role in our own demise by mismanaging the resources of the service. Some of us do not come to work on time, and then when we do arrive, we leave the office to get something to eat for breakfast. After this breakfast, we check our e-mail, surf the web for a while, call or text a few friends, and then begin working. By this time, it is around 9:30 or 10 a.m.

We take our time doing our work and leave for lunch on time, but for some reason we return from lunch late. After lunch we do not feel motivated to work because we just ate. So we are sluggish for the afternoon and spend some more time on the phone and Internet, and chatting with co-workers.

At 4 p.m. we start winding down the day; by 4:25, everything is packed away where it is supposed to be, the computer is off, and if we can stand by the door until 4:30, we do.

There is also abuse with government supplies, like paper and ink, with employees printing personal things and so on. Vehicles are often used to make personal runs: dropping people to the laundry, going home for things you forgot that have nothing to do with work, and so on. I am guilty of such transgressions. Therefore I am appealing to civil servants who know that they fall in any of these categories to make a conscious effort to change their behaviour. This way, we can save money and stretch our resources.

The leaders of the territory, though, need to set an example for the rest of the territory in the way they spend our money. From what I have observed, Governor Boyd McCleary appears to be making conscious efforts to curb spending. Our politicians need to take note. Some of the vehicles they purchase with our money are unnecessary; the contracts they give to people to do things the territory and its residents neither need nor want are controversial; and the load of unnecessary festivals, parades and so on that they sponsor are disturbing. The place is small: Let’s have one, big, central celebration and be satisfied with that! Then there are the thousands and thousands of dollars being spent on “consultancies.” Give me a break. It needs to stop!

Politicians’ paycuts

So leaders are saying that the entire territory is in a financial crisis, but the civil servants must bear the brunt of the attack by having their increments cut in half. The former government mentioned suspending the increment, but didn’t do it.  Leaders are saying that the politicians have taken a pay cut, too. But guess what: Politicians can afford to take a pay cut. With all the allowances they get monthly — telephone, travel, entertainment and so on — a pay cut wouldn’t hurt any of them. Some of them, from the former government in particular, did not even earn their salary, in my opinion.

Besides that, most politicians have an extra source of income besides their base salary and their allowances that they are getting from us. I do not have a food and beverage company or any shares in a cellular phone company. I do not practice medicine, nor do I invest with a quarry. I do not have apartments, villas, restaurants or stores. I am not a member of a wealthy family.

What about the family with all those bills, student loans, $800 a month rent, car payments, gasoline, propane, food and clothes? What about those who have children to take care of? Were all of these things taken into consideration prior to making the decision to cut the increment in half?

Other places

“At least we still have a job!” People continue to mention what is happening in the United States and in the US Virgin Islands. Yes, a number of people have been laid off in the US. Yes, government workers have taken an eight percent pay cut across the board, but what I don’t hear those same people say is that in the US, they have unemployment benefits and breaks. We do not have those in this territory.

The same people who are talking about what is happening in the US and its territories are failing to mention that in those places, they have consumer affairs rules that seek to regulate food prices and other things. Do we have that here? When the expiration date for food comes in this territory, do you know what the stores do? They reduce the price of the food item. In the US territories, they have to remove those items from the shelf. Who regulates prices in this territory?

Who sees to it that the already established monopolies refrain from inflation? Do you know how much the average one-bedroom apartment costs in the VI? The average two-bedroom apartment? Who sees to it that there is affordable housing? Government does not provide housing in this territory like it does in the US and its territories.

So when we mention what is happening over there, let us mention both sides of the coin.

Minimum wage

What about the minimum wage here in comparison to the minimum wage in the places that we are comparing ourselves to? Have we checked their gas prices and compared them to ours? I saw on the news last week that gas per gallon at the pump had risen to $3.63 in the US. Many people in this territory, I’m sure, would rejoice if they could go to any gas pump right now and pay $3.63.

The cost of gas per gallon at the gas station that I go to is $4.65: That is $1.02 more than what was reported on the US news, and if you live on the islands of Jost Van Dyke, Anegada or Virgin Gorda, you may be paying a minimum of $5 per gallon.

Let’s talk about public transportation in the USVI. You can get from the eastern end of St. Thomas to the western end for $2 on a safari bus, or you can use the government-run transit system to get to your destination for around the same cost. We do not have a government-run transit system here, and I personally do not know of any safari bus that will take me from East End to West End for $2. Do you?

Some have mentioned shopping locally and “keeping the money in the territory.” The reality is that in a number of scenarios you get more value for your dollar shopping outside of this territory. If that were not the case, so many people would not do it.

The truth is, depending on what you are going away to purchase, you can often pay your boat or plane fare, rent a vehicle, shop, return and pay duty on the items, and still pay less than if you were shopping locally.

Besides the amount of money you save shopping abroad, you get better variety, higher quality, and, for medical services, more privacy.

On this topic, the government needs to stop charging duty on items purchased by individuals who are importing items for their personal use — especially when the items they are importing cannot be purchased locally — and save the duty charges for those who are importing goods for sale.

I have more that I would like to write on this topic, but I decided to submit only half of my thoughts to go along with the increment the government has proposed.

Though the Beacon typically does not publish anonymous letters, an exception was made this week in the case of a public servant who fears reprisals for speaking out against the government cutbacks.

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