USVI Recovery Threatened by Virgin Island Government's Lack of Funds
ST. THOMAS — In April, The Consortium reported that the U.S. Virgin Islands had a major issue to confront relative to the billions of dollars pouring into the territory following the 2017 storms from various federal sources: the federal matching fund requirement.
The report spoke of a 10 to 25 percent federal matching fund requirement needed to secure the hurricane recovery-related federal dollars, and used as an example U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development funding to the U.S.V.I. of $1.8 billion: “If one is to apply to the $1.8 billion the highest percentage requirement by the federal government in local matching funds, which is 25 percent, the local government would need to come up with — though not in one bulk offering — $450 million. The base 10 percent requirement would still demand $180 million, and if it falls in the middle, say about 12.5 percent, the sum jumps to $225 million,” read the report.
A day later, Governor Kenneth Mapp told The Consortium in an interview that the territory would not need to come up with the matching funds, as the monies, he said, are provided through the federal allocation and not local dollars.
“I just want to leave with you that we don’t have any difficulty in accessing these dollars. The next step is putting the plan in place, getting the community involved, and getting the approval from H.U.D.,” Mr. Mapp said. “Once H.U.D. signs on, they may say we need more information on this, we need more information on that, but once H.U.D. says, ‘okay, it’s approved,’ that means go do the project and draw the funds down against the projects.”
Read more: https://viconsortium.com/business/report-usvi-recovery-threatened-by-vi-governments-lack-of-funds/