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July 31, 2007
Governor: CFO Bill is a proposal whose time has passed Gov. John deJongh, Jr. Tuesday described the action of the U.S. House of Representatives in passing H.R. 2107, the CFO legislation designed to take away the duties and authority of the Virgin Islands Director of the Office of Management and Budget, transferring them to a federally mandated official, as "the passage of a proposal whose time has passed." "I have the same objective, to achieve financial integrity and efficiency for the Government of the Virgin Islands as surely as our Delegate does. Attainment of this objective is critical to having the resources to implement many required initiatives from educating our young people to law enforcement to addressing social and medical concerns facing our community. What I recognize, however, is that one person cannot effect the same change that is required, and that a CFO is but one person who will still have the same structure in which to operate. I hope the day will soon come when the Delegate will be able to agree openly with me that an outside appointed CFO is now unnecessary," deJongh said Tuesday. deJongh also noted, "As we enter a time when we are attempting to state our own self-governance, we need a more cohesive government, not more federal oversight. We just spent several years, and with the Delegate’s leadership, convincing Congress and the President that we should have control of our property taxation. We should not undermine this trust in our leadership by now requesting a federal law requiring a structure that is an illusion at best. What is required is for us to concentrate on the areas that will improve our financial footing and long-term growth, such as approval of federal legislation on the statue of limitations that will give certainty to our residents, approval of the long-sought rules and regulations from the U.S. Treasury Department that would provide stability to our economic incentive programs and equality and parity in such federal programs as Medicaid, Children’s Health Insurance and SSI." deJongh is committed to implementing the new computerized financial management system, including the performance-based management measure put forward by OMB Director Gottlieb. The measure will allow government officials, our legislators, and the public to better measure efforts in implementing public policy in a cost effective and cohesive manner. "As the new Commissioner of Finance brings the various modules of the computer system online, progress and necessary changes once thought only achievable through the efforts of an outside CFO will be in place without the need for outside or federal intervention," deJongh said. "These initiatives are further enhanced by the additional resources and staffing capabilities provided to the V.I. Inspector General to improve its oversight functions, to OMB to establish a designated unit to monitor performance and the Department of Finance to improve auditing and financial reporting. One of the key goals of the deJongh/Francis administration is to update, streamline and improve upon better financial measures and protocol efforts government wide. "If a reorganization of the Government of the Virgin Islands is, in fact, needed to achieve the goal of better financial management, then this restructuring should be done comprehensively and locally in the context of the on-going Constitutional Convention, and not piece-meal by Congress through CFO legislation," deJongh said. |
