On Monday, House of Assembly lawmakers unanimously passed a temporary budget designed to serve as a stopgap measure until 2018’s full appropriation act is devised.

The measure — deemed a “provisional general warrant” — earmarks more than $101 million for the recurrent budget through next April or until lawmakers pass the actual budget, whichever comes sooner.

That figure includes $100,000 for capital acquisitions and more than $2.7 million for capital projects, according to Premier Dr. Orlando Smith, who also serves as the minister of finance. Provided for in the 2007 Constitution, provisional general warrants have become common in recent years, and one was almost certain to be necessary in 2017 after the brutal storm season. The money will be withdrawn from the Consolidated Fund.

Opposition support

During the warrant’s debate on Monday, opposition member Julian Fraser rose to support the stopgap measure, though he argued it would be necessary to pass a full budget early in January.

The warrant, Mr. Fraser (R-D3) explained, is based on the budget for the same four-month period in the previous year, which is problematic because of the damage Hurricane Irma did to the territory’s economy.

“It would behoove us to be back in this House very early in the new year with a budget reflecting the realities on the ground, which is our revenue based on the condition of the territory,” he said.

In a House of Assembly sitting last month, Dr. Smith (R-at large) described the hurricane’s immediate negative effect on the Virgin Islands’ revenue stream.

Government earned only $5.14 million this September, compared to $18.22 million in September 2016.

In October, however, government seemingly got closer to being back on track, collecting $16.88 million compared to $19.95 million the year before.

In total, revenue totaled $22.02 million in those two months, $16.16 million less than the same period in 2016.

Fahie disagrees

Opposition Leader Andrew Fahie also rose in support of the warrant, though he disagreed with Mr. Fraser’s argument.

“I do think it’ll take a little a while before the minister of finance brings a budget,” Mr. Fahie (R-D1) said, “because the way I see it it’s going to take a little while for us to get the true pulse on how the revenue is going to be generated before we make any overambitious or under-ambitious budget, because this is not a regular situation.”

Messrs. Fahie and Fraser were the only contributors to the debate.

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