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VI UPDATE U.S. Virgin Islands Public Records TRANSCRIPT OF PUBLIC PROCEEDINGS 07/09/2026 The Committee on Budget, Appropriations and Finance Legislature USVI July 9, 2026 · 0.7 hours · gov Source recording https://youtu.be/KzHMC_UIt1U Status This is a working transcript produced by machine from a recording of a public proceeding. It is a finding aid, not an official record of the Legislature. Transcribed by VI Update, using OpenAI Whisper large-v3-turbo, run locally. Not reviewed by a person. Reliability Automatic transcription, UNVERIFIED. Verify every quotation against the recording before relying on it. Speech recognition splits spoken digits and wraps figures mid-number, so a dollar amount, a vote count or a bill number can be wrong in a way that reads as correct. Speakers are not identified: automatic speaker labelling was measured unusable and removed. 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A verbatim transcript is mechanical rather than authored, so there is likely nothing in it to own; to the extent any copyright is nonetheless found to subsist, it is dedicated to the public domain under CC0 1.0. Please copy it, quote it, index it, train on it, republish it, mirror it, sell it. Redistribution is the point: a public record with one copy is one fire from gone. No permission is needed, and none is ours to grant or withhold. The assessment rates, the PSC, you know, my question is, if WAPA and Waste Management pay their assessment rates, will the PFC be able to operate without any assistance or public funding? The question is, would the PFC be able to operate? Yes, would the PFC be able to operate if WAPA and Waste Management pay? Absolutely. Okay, good. So then you wouldn't need any public funds if they were to pay those assessments? That is correct, and that is exactly the way that the structure, the financial structure, is designed so that the Public Services Commission operates independently from the GVIA Treasury. The funding 100% that we receive comes directly from all of the utilities that we regulate, both semi-autonomous as well as privately owned utilities. 0:00:00 Okay, understood. You tell me, please. And, you know, I'd like to congratulate you on what you have been doing, a monumental task of defending the thousands, I think it's 55,000 accounts they have, so I know it's a big job. I heard the director say that it's 55,000. So, another question. So, if the legislature was to consider additional statutory tools to address the chronic operational and financial failures, what authorities would you recommend? Would an independent receiver appointed by the court under carefully defined statutory standards improve accountability if all other corrective measures fail? Well, one of the asks that we've made to the legislature is that if the legislature was to require that the portions of the assessments that are supposed to come to the PSC are withdrawn directly from the utilities, the semi-autonomous utilities and deposited directly into the accounts, the PSC accounts, that would help tremendously. 0:01:07 And we're not speaking about appropriations that are made by the executive branch. We're asking for the legal, lawful assessments that are assessed on the utilities on an annual basis. Okay. And thank you. And, you know, the Public Service Commission is the agency that regulates WAPA, the utilities. So, your testimony states that the commission cannot determine whether WAPA's financial projections are accurate, cannot determine whether future funding shortfalls exist, cannot determine WAPA's long-term strategy, and has been unable to continue its investigation because WAPA has failed to satisfy its statutory obligation. Given those facts, can you tell this legislature how the Public Service 0:02:32 Machine transcript · UNVERIFIED. Verify every quotation against the recording. Speakers are not identified. VI Update · usvipublicrecords.com · public record, no rights asserted (CC0 1.0) 1 of 7 Legislature USVI · 07/09/2026 The Committee on Budget, Appropriations and Finance Commission can have confidence that WAPA is being managed in a financially sown and transparent manner? We can only do that when the records, the documents, the data is delivered to the Public Services Commission when we request or when we order those documents. And it's the same for the Public Service Commission, it's also the same for the legislature. We do make directives, we do make requirements, we do produce and establish orders requiring the financial documents submitted to the Public Services Commission. And what we do not have right now is the ability to ensure that those documents are, in fact, submitted to us and delivered to us. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Let me quickly wrap up. Okay, thank you. 0:03:53 So if the legislature concludes that repeated regulatory oversight, rate cases, management changes, and financial assistance have not produced reliable utility service or full regulatory compliance, would you support the legislature considering an independent court-supervised receivership as one of the potential remedies provided? It includes appropriate legal standards and safeguard or other measures. Thank you for that question and I'll let our general counsel respond. 0:04:36 Yes, I'm on the chair's time, Mr. Chair. You may respond. Thank you, Boyd-Spring, general counsel. I think if I could go back to your previous question very, very briefly. I'll just note that on our agenda next Tuesday, one of the items is we've spent some time recently going through the Virgin Islands Code, looking for all the legislative mandated reports that WAPA is to file with the legislature and/or the Public Services Commission. We can make that list available to you. I would be very surprised if you've received all the reports required. And we will see what their response is next week. 0:05:12 On a receivership, I don't have a snappy or quick answer for you. Receivership presents a number of challenges, as you know. Governmental entities, particularly federal governmental entities, are not able to directly file bankruptcy, so that bankruptcy court reorganization is not available. Receiverships are generally set up for the benefit of debtors, not for the public. So it would be a very unusual debtor or receivership structure. It would certainly be something that would have to be very carefully constructed and looked at. 0:05:51 It may be an option that is time to explore. I can't give you a more specific answer than that at this point. Well, thank you. I do have that bill, and I'll send it to you as a draft. Thank you, Mr. Chair, for the time. Thank you very much, Senator Fonseca. I want to give the young ladies an opportunity to just introduce yourself or put your name on the record. Hi, my name is Janae Reynolds. I'm the Legal Support Specialist. 0:06:29 Thank you. Welcome. Hi, my name is Sierra Donald. I'm the Administrative Officer One. Good evening. My name is Sasha Davis, and I am the Utility Staff Assistant for the St. Thomas St. John District. Well, thank you. Welcome. At this time, the chair will recognize Senator Huber-Frederick. You'll recognize for your four minutes. Hello. Thank you. Thank you very much, Mr. Chair, and a pleasant good afternoon, colleagues and testifiers, listening and viewing audience, my office and central staff. 0:06:59 I welcome the PSC, again, for this opportunity for us to see what we can do to help this agency out. I'm an ex-official member, and I can tell you we need all the help we can get. Let's see. Let's start off with the revolving fund for the PSC and see if we could make some sense out of this. So, as of March 31st, the fund balance on that fund was $669,221.26. Was there an update on that number since March? Yes, there was. 0:07:43 It's about $640,000 estimated. I don't have the actual fund balance written here, but that's the amount that was updated. $640,000? $640,000 remaining as of April. Did we make any progress in collecting any of the assessment from WAPA since then? No, we have not received any assessment payments from WAPA as of today. 0:08:33 What about the Waste Management Authority? They have not paid any past two annual assessments either. What's the total due for the Waste Management Authority? For which authority? Yeah, as of the most recent month in. Okay, for Waste Management, they owe for the last, for five years actually, totaling $1,656,495. Slow down, slow down, slow down. 0:09:06 $1,656,495.42. And WAPA? WAPA owes for 2024, 2025, and 2026, totaling $4,136,287.71. Okay, so $5.6, 5.7 million dollars that's out there that we're going to have to try to see how the PSC could collect. At the rate we're going, that number is just growing exponentially and no one is making any effort to pay it down. 0:09:41 What's the last correspondence that the PSC made of WAPA? One minute. The last correspondence that we've made to WAPA requesting that the assessments be, the overdue assessments be paid, is that what you're asking? Correct. That's correct. The last correspondence we sent was actually June of 2026. Waste Management. 0:10:34 Waste Management. We have not issued correspondence to them within the last few months, but I can get that information as well. In reference to Vitelco Innovative and Warlock Ventures and Transportation Services, have they made any effort to pay down their assessment balances? Waste Management. Waste Management. Those entities are 0:11:07 Machine transcript · UNVERIFIED. Verify every quotation against the recording. Speakers are not identified. VI Update · usvipublicrecords.com · public record, no rights asserted (CC0 1.0) 2 of 7 Legislature USVI · 07/09/2026 The Committee on Budget, Appropriations and Finance actually current with their annual assessment. Okay. Awesome. So, what can we do to, besides taking legal action against those two agencies, what can we do to try to collect? As explained not too long ago, we are asked to the legislature to issue legislation that would require the OMB or the Department of Finance to transfer the funds that are owed for annual assessments from both of the semi-autonomous agencies directly from their appropriations to the PSC revolving fund or accounts. That way, the funds are not distributed directly to the regulated utilities, but held by the Department of Finance for Payment to the Public Services Commission directly. Sort of like a line item. 0:11:38 Okay. So, I think my time has been called. We are going to have some more discussion on this, Director Satori, because I am trying to find a way forward to see how we could resolve this issue. And I want to thank you for your time and your testimony today. Thank you very much. Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Good afternoon colleagues. Good afternoon testifiers of your enlisted and present. Executive Director, I see that your 27 budget would be about $315,838 more than the 26 budget. Go ahead. Brenda Conner, Accounts Maintenance Officer. Yes, that's correct. 0:13:05 Okay. Anyone receive wage increases? We have included wage increases for 2027 years. Okay. For how much people? For the whole staff. How much employees do you have? Thirteen in total. Okay. Thirteen. So, 13 employees will be getting wage increases. Okay. So, 13 employees will be getting wage increases? Correct. Okay, good. And you have zero vacancies. Yes, that's correct. Yes, that's correct. Okay. Anyone receive wage increases? We have included wage increases for 2027 years. Okay. For how much people? For the whole staff. 0:13:44 How much employees do you have? Thirteen in total. Okay. Thirteen. So, 13 employees will be getting wage increases. Correct. Okay, good. And you have zero vacancies. That's correct. You had a vacant position from in 26. You had actually two. One you removed and the other one you left. So, you don't have no vacancy at all? No, we don't. That was failed. 0:14:11 Administrator officer? That was failed. That's Ms. Donald. Did no one give you 14? No. No? No. Okay. Okay. You have an estimated increase percentage in regards to possible insurance increase? And infringing? Or is OMB going to take care of that too? I think OMB will be in charge of that. OMB? Okay. 0:14:40 Okay. You're under any litigation that you may have to pay out to anybody or anything? Any entity? Not to my knowledge, no. Okay. Okay. Um, and you say, so actually the 2,395,129, that's your act? That's my act. Okay. Okay. And that covers the wage increases. So that's good. Now, you know, your allotment date, you say, was of March. 0:15:08 So you are running on fumes because of when you're receiving your allotments. That's correct? Okay. Good afternoon, Boyd. Spray. Let me see if I can answer this. Yeah. The much larger numbers. The mic? You could just get a mic message here. Okay. Yeah. Please recognize the mic of Attorney Spray. Okay. Attorney Spray. Speaking. Thank you. Good. I apologize for speaking before the mic was turned on. I wanted to just sort of narrowly focus on the current fiscal year so that we understand how that budget is. Our current fiscal year had $2,079,292.52 as our budget and as the annual assessment prorated across the utilities. 0:15:47 Of that $2,079,000, we have collected $622,889.72. One minute. That leaves us with a shortfall of just over $1.3 million in unpaid assessments. Okay. No. Excuse me. But it was stated that $1,039,646 was the allotment that was received in March. I understand that that is based in part on an allotment using our prior reserve, not the current annual collection. Well, no, I didn't say that part. So, you know, I agree on that. I'm trying to be clear. 0:16:32 The reserve that we've carried forward from year to year has been effectively at this point depleted. We are running on the reserve that we had accumulated and has been approved by the legislature. Okay. So, your reserve covered half of what's owed? Yes. Okay. So, then? We are on fumes. So, then the money that you get back would put back into your reserves to bring that up? Yes. That's how it works? Okay. And then you would carry that reserve forward? 0:17:07 Time. For your usage only? Or does it have to be appropriated through OMB? All by use only. Yeah. I just wrap up, Mr. Chair. No. Yeah. How do you, because I said if you didn't say that part about a reserve, you wouldn't have known until just now. In each year's budget submission, we identified, have historically identified, our current year's budget and the amount that we had left over from prior years, which we have carried into a reserve. 0:17:40 That reserve allows us to pay our contractors to meet our bills before we collect the current year's revenue in the assessments. So, that becomes our floating bridge as well as a backup for anything unpaid for a substantial period of time. So, what is the amount in your reserves currently? It was, if I could say, four years ago, it was two and a half million dollars. Okay. Four and a half million. It's currently, as of June, about 400. Yeah. Is that on? Is that on? 0:18:11 Hello? As of June, it's estimated to be about 400 and maybe 90,000. 490k. Mm-hmm. Okay. And then, just in closing, Mr. Chair, I wanted to find out with the WAPA issues and all the issues that we have in, what is the process for making a 0:18:41 Machine transcript · UNVERIFIED. Verify every quotation against the recording. Speakers are not identified. VI Update · usvipublicrecords.com · public record, no rights asserted (CC0 1.0) 3 of 7 Legislature USVI · 07/09/2026 The Committee on Budget, Appropriations and Finance complaint to PSC? I've had people complain to me that they don't know what to do. So, I'd like you to put it on the record what the process is for an individual who has a complaint on some of these utilities or entities that come under the PSC. What is their process to go through? We have our complaint officer here. I want to preface that response with saying that these three young women that were brought up to sit with us have been doing a surmountable job, tremendous work in moving the PSC forward. Every time we come to the budget hearing, we speak about what our achievements are. We speak about what our goals are, what our objectives are, and what we will be implementing during the following year. And these three young ladies are actually the ones that makes, that assist us in achieving those goals. We have achieved those goals. We've made tremendous strides over the last couple of hearings that we've attended and testified at. And the numbers and the achievements and accomplishments show that. 0:19:38 Your question about the complaint process, and I actually can ask the complaint officer to respond to that. However, customers can simply pick up the phone and give us a call. On St. Thomas, our number is 778-776-1291. On St. Croix, our number is 778-6010. Customers can go to our website, psc.vi.gov. We do have a portal that allows them to file a complaint. They can walk into any one of our offices. We're open eight to five, five days a week. We're never closed during lunch. So we welcome customers to come in and, you know, let us know exactly what the issues are or the matters are that they have concerning the regulated utilities. I know that one of the things that we've been hearing, let's say, for example, over the past five years, is that folks in the community are not aware of the Public Services Commission. We have worked -- these three ladies, as well as the rest of our staff, our executive team -- have worked tremendously hard to make comments like those misnomers. I think we have progressed extensively. 0:20:23 We do have information that we discussed earlier that we will be providing to this body that would show exactly the numbers and the strives that we've made so that, one, customers in the community know who we are, where we are, how to get in touch with us. But, two, that demonstrates the achievements that's been made by the Public Services Commission staff on behalf of ratepayers. Thank you. 0:21:44 Thank you for the time, Mr. Chair. Thank you very much, Senator DeGraff. Senator Viale, you recognize for your four minutes. Thank you, Mr. Chair. So, Mr. Torrey, for fiscal year '26, in the letter that you wrote to WAPA, they have paid $305,000 out of the outstanding balance of $1 million for FY26? That's correct, sir. And you received that $300,000 when, early on or just recently? It was received early on between, I think it was February and April, between those months. 0:22:16 Okay. And since then, there has been no communication as to any father payments? Actually, we communicate regularly regarding the payments. So, one of the things that the PSC has instituted over the last year, last two years, are PSC utility joint management meetings where we review every single month some of the issues, the matters, the concerns that we have. So, during these meetings, the very first matter and issue that is discussed is our outstanding assessments. So, this is a process that is continuous. And you haven't received, in the last meeting you have, you haven't received any positive communication or reference on the next payment? 0:22:57 We do. So, you know, we do. We hear from the utility every single month that, you know, a payment will be forthcoming. As a matter of fact, we just had a meeting earlier this week with the Water and Power Authority. Okay. And again, we were told that we will be receiving another assessment, annual assessment payment by next week. Okay. So, we would probably need to follow up. I'm sure the Chair would make note of that and try to follow up. 0:23:49 I am a bit concerned when you say that suspending the rate investigations, you know, because that is the duty of the PSC and the last thing that we want to do is to suspend the rate investigations. So, it's like a catch-22, you know. They don't pay the money. You can't perform. It is a catch-22. Sorry. When you can't perform, then they could literally get away with anything. Exactly. There's no regulatory body to see whether or not the consumer is being charged the right price. 0:24:29 Exactly. It is a catch-22, Senator Veerle. And if I must say, that is a decision that was made by staff and that we took to our commission, not because it's a decision that we wanted to make or a strategy that we wanted to use or implement. However, we hold fast and are convinced that we cannot possibly -- the dockets will open up, the rate investigations commenced, but we cannot in good conscience allow anyone to work on behalf of the PSC or even the utilities if we cannot commit that they will be paid. 0:25:00 At the current rate we go into CFO, what's your projection for when the reserve fund runs out? If the payment continues at this pace, do you expect it to run out when? End of the year? Next year? No, actually, maybe by the end of August. Okay. In reference to the outstanding monies and waste management, was the fee assessed on the general fund budget or was the fee assessed on the tipping fees? Good afternoon. I don't think his microphone is on. Thank you. 0:25:52 Machine transcript · UNVERIFIED. Verify every quotation against the recording. Speakers are not identified. VI Update · usvipublicrecords.com · public record, no rights asserted (CC0 1.0) 4 of 7 Legislature USVI · 07/09/2026 The Committee on Budget, Appropriations and Finance Yeah, it is. Good afternoon. Boyd Sprain here. Up until the current fiscal year, it was based on the revenues of the Waste Management Authority. The revenues of the Waste Management Authority are by statute defined to include appropriations. That was done in part because at the time waste management was created, it was understood that waste management would be heavily subsidized for a number of years until it developed its own fee structure. So that formula has been changed, right? 0:26:38 As of 2026, that's correct. So what is the assessment for 2026 with the new formula that's based on the tipping fees? The new assessment in 2026 was for $19,341 and they did pay that amount. Okay. So the amount that they have not paid is the amount that they're contesting because it was assessed on the general fund revenues that were given to the authority. I have to correct that if I may, Senator. 0:27:12 They did not contest the first three years. They simply ignored it. Time. They failed to timely contest and they were dismissed from court on the fourth year. The fifth year remains pending in court. Okay. Because, I mean, WAPA charges the public a fee. Those years that we're speaking about for Waste Management, they weren't charging anything. They were picking trash up, literally, based on the general fund. And then we were trying to assess a fee and the monies they were getting for the general fund, which I never agreed with. But my next question would be, do you have a proposal before you in reference to garbage collection and fees? No, though, we are expecting one. 0:27:44 So they have not given you that proposal yet? They have not. Okay. I should qualify that. They presented a proposal before current executive director Ware was appointed. They then withdrew that from the commission because they wanted to reconsider it. They then, as I understand it, have reconsidered and made some changes to that. But we have not seen that as yet. Before they can submit a rate proposal to the Public Services Commission, they have to comply with the Ratepayers Bill of Rights, which requires them to provide 60 days notice to the public, including publication. And I understand they have just completed that process. 0:28:31 Okay. Thank you so much, Mr. Chair. Thank you very much, Senator Villeneuve. Senator Carla J. Joseph, you're recognized for your foremost. Thank you. Thank you so much, Mr. Chairman. I want to, first of all, commend the hardworking staff at the Virgin Islands Public Services Commission. I am an ex-official member of the Public Services Commission. This is my second go-round as an ex-official member. And I see the hard work that you've been doing. I have known of your plight. I've communicated it. 0:29:19 But I'm glad that you are here to communicate it for yourselves. I want to also take the opportunity to commend and recognize an achievement by one of the Public Services Commission's board member, Ms. Laura Nichols-Sam. I'm being elected as president of the MARC crew -- I hope I'm pronouncing it correctly -- which is the Mid-Atlantic Conference of Regulatory Utilities Commission. This is the first time in over maybe 30 years that a member of the Public Services Commission has been elected as an executive board member and as president. I believe the last time was during a former governor, a Democratic governor's time, which was Alexander Farrelly, the Honorable Alexander Farrelly, the late Alexander Farrelly. So I really want to commend her. And I remember her struggle in getting the support from this body to vote on her nomination as a St. Johnian, and here she rises and so. 0:30:02 So major kudos to her and her work there on the national level. Now, I want to go to some questions because I know that it has been very hard for you to do your work. I remember the last time we met, there was the concerns with the Watsillas and with your consultant, who you have a new consultant, to complete their assessment and their review. You had to tell them to stop because they were looking at doing further work. And because you were unable to provide the funding that is necessary, you had to ask them to stop. What would they need? How much would we need to give you so that you could continue to do your work? I know you have 400, a little over 400,000 in your reserves. What would we need to provide you so you could continue to do your regulatory work? 0:31:24 Actually, I'm going to let Ms. Ganna respond to that. One minute. However, we're describing -- we're talking about two different types of assessments. One is our annual assessment as well as our docket-specific assessments. And so for our annual assessments, of course, we would need for our utilities, regulated utilities, to submit and pay the approved assessments, the legally mandated assessments. As far as the docket-specific assessments are concerned, once a docket is open and once it is ordered by the commission, the utilities are required by law to pay those assessments. So again, we want, you know -- One moment. Have they been paying the docket assessments? They have not paid their docket assessments. 0:32:32 They ain't paying a living thing then. Correct. That is the problem. That's what I'm trying to get at. So those are my concerns because that's how they -- that's how the regulations are done. Time. Mr. Chairman, I have one follow-up question. And thank you. Thank you for that clarification, Ms. Connor. Now, the question I would like to ask is regarding your budget. Do you have an impressed fund or a checking account? No. 0:33:34 Machine transcript · UNVERIFIED. Verify every quotation against the recording. Speakers are not identified. VI Update · usvipublicrecords.com · public record, no rights asserted (CC0 1.0) 5 of 7 Legislature USVI · 07/09/2026 The Committee on Budget, Appropriations and Finance We do not. You do not. So all of your -- your financial is by the GVI? Correct. And you are on the -- your vendors are on the -- by GVI? GVI buys. Yes. Okay. Thank you so much. Wait. One moment. Have your vendors indicated any issues that they are having with the by GVI? Good day, Tamar, Corey. 0:34:06 There have been some delay, honestly. We are currently navigating through this new system, especially during a fiscal year. You know, we're boiling down to the end of a fiscal year during a budget moment. So there has been some delay. So, yes, we have received some feedback as towards vendors getting into the system, registering in the system, bidding on the system. It's quite lengthy. However, we have been in constant communication with property and procurement. They have a specialized team relative to GVI buy. We've had open hours twice. It has been helpful. However, we would like to see the ball rolling a little better. We are utilizing two systems, which is the Tyler Munis ERP system, as well as GVI buy. But vendors have to go into GVI buy to bid. There's also a few issues with a few vendors aren't really technically savvy. So we do see some issues there already. 0:34:36 We have some mom and pops that have probably smaller, no operational office. So we do need some assistance in that department so we could get the ball rolling. We can't really tell you, hey, we can't pay you. But we are still working towards that. So just know that it's not something that we are sleeping on. We have to get our vendors paid timely. Right. Thank you. Mr. Chairman, I have one final burning. I don't have a burning question. I just want to advise you. I'm not going to be at the meeting on Tuesday. I have a committee on education and workforce meeting that I have to be here at the legislature to attend God's Fair Life. And as I usually do, I will send a letter. So just to place that on the record, we have a hard taskmaster with my colleague and chairman, Senator VLA. Thank you so kindly. Thank you very much. Senator Kali J. Joseph. What are we expending in the stipend payments? And are we up to date on those? And those are to the members, board members. 0:35:38 The board member stipends are up to date. How much have we expended this fiscal year in that category? Give me a minute, please. Why do you look for that? Ms. Satori, have you submitted any recommendation, any legislation for modification? We have not submitted any proposed or legislative request. Is that something you're considering? We most certainly -- definitely. Definitely. 0:36:45 But we have, in fact, communicated with this body through written correspondence as to, you know, what our ask is and, you know, what are the ways that, you know, the legislature can assist us. And we have gotten responses and feedback as well, so we're working definitely on submitting. I highly recommend proposed legislation that we could take a look at next week. Thank you. 0:37:23 To date we have expended $3,759 in stipend. I was distracted by somebody asking for the legislation since I asked for it. $3,759. You can have the legislation. I have enough, Senator. Calm down. $3,759. And you said all the stipends are up to date. 0:37:53 All right. I think that rounds out our line of questions. Any other burning questions from my colleagues? Erin Nunn? I'll allow you to do a 30-second closing. Thank you. I just want to say thank you very much to the Budget and Finance Committee, as well as the other members of the 36th Legislature for your continued support and communication that you've held with us throughout the years, throughout the term. The Public Services Commission, again, has exceeded our goals and our objectives. And when I say exceed, I speak about expanding, increasing, extending what our goals are. And we are meeting those goals. We are matching those goals. 0:38:23 Thank you to our very, very able and, you know, advanced staff. One of the questions that was asked was, you know, what is it that our staff, you know, what are the anguish that our staff experience in regard to what's going on? And I have to say that when you walk into our office, when you call our office, there's no difference. As a matter of fact, our staff is more energized to perform and to work in the best interest of both the regulated utilities as well as our customers. And so for that, we're very appreciative. So once again, we will continue, you know, to work on behalf of those people that were, of us, that were required and mandated to work on their behalf. And so for that, we, you know, we say thank you. 0:39:22 And we look forward to being able and, you know, being given that opportunity to continue to perform on behalf of the Virgin Islands, the people of the Virgin Islands, the residents of the Virgin Islands, because, you know, we deserve it. Absolutely. I neglected to ask about our cell phone providers. What is the level of complaints that's coming in and what's currently trending in terms of those complaints? To Sean Hendricks. I recall back in 2024, during the Liberty AT&T merger, there was an increase in customer complaints that we have not witnessed that anymore. 0:40:25 There has been a reduction. We get the -- we do get complaints, but it's not an enormous amount. It's a case-by-case basis, and we're able to bring resolution to majority of those complaints that we see. Any particular trending issues, SOS, drop calls, dead spots? Any particular trending you're seeing with the complaints? We -- from time to time, we still get complaints regarding number portability. But once contact is made with the utilities, we're able to get those resolved. 0:41:17 Machine transcript · UNVERIFIED. Verify every quotation against the recording. Speakers are not identified. VI Update · usvipublicrecords.com · public record, no rights asserted (CC0 1.0) 6 of 7 Legislature USVI · 07/09/2026 The Committee on Budget, Appropriations and Finance From time to time, we do see service coverage complaints. It's just based on our infrastructure, based on our territory. Those are long-term fixes, and we're working with the providers to get those matters resolved. Very well. And you have a copy of the post-audit report. If there are any corrections that need to be made or addition, any information that they have requested or you have not provided, please do so. Continue to communicate with our post-audit division, because there's still a process. We go to markup, and then we'll be able to ensure that we're properly tweaking to meet the needs of the Public Service Commission. Thank you very much for coming before the Committee of Budget Appropriations and Finance. I want to take this opportunity to thank my colleagues for participation today. Thank our central staff workers. Thank you to -- interns, that's what you refer to as interns? 0:42:11 No. Employees. Employees. Oh, y'all are being so bashful. You're full-fledged employees that are getting paid. Welcome. All right. Yeah, so thank you. Anything you want to say in closing? No? Come on, Sasha. Sasha. Sure. All right. Sure. I'm usually the shy one, Jenae Reynolds Legal Support Specialist. I just want to thank our staff. 0:42:44 We have an incredible agency, and I believe we're the best in the US VA. Hands down. Thank you for saying that. Again, thank you, colleagues, for today. Thank you to central staff. Thank you to everyone to make this process go. And the Committee of Budget, Appropriations, and Finance of July 9th, 2026 is hereby adjourned. God bless. God bless. God bless. God bless. God bless. God bless. 0:43:13 People named in this transcript SUSPECTED, and a finding aid only. Names were matched by machine against the spellings used across all 426 of our transcripts, and the title is the one used in the room. Being named here is NOT evidence that a person attended or spoke · only that the name was said. Speech recognition mishears names, so a spelling may be wrong even where no alternative is offered. 2x Senator Carla Joseph heard in this transcript as: Carla J. Joseph 2x Senator Dwayne DeGraff heard in this transcript as: DeGraff 2x Senator Karla J. Joseph the surname alone also matches: Carla Joseph; Clifford Joseph heard in this transcript as: Kali J. Joseph 2x Senator Kurt VLA heard in this transcript as: VLA 2x Senator Kurt Vialet heard in this transcript as: Viale 2x Senator Ray Fonseca heard in this transcript as: Fonseca Machine transcript · UNVERIFIED. Verify every quotation against the recording. Speakers are not identified. VI Update · usvipublicrecords.com · public record, no rights asserted (CC0 1.0) 7 of 7