Inspector General finds Agriculture lost out on over $4 million

An audit by the Office of V.I. Inspector General Delia Thomas has revealed that the V.I. Department of Agriculture should have received an additional $4.13 million in funding between 2016 and 2021.

“As a result, the Department was inhibited in its ability to meet its yearly objectives and to further its mission,” Thomas wrote in a report published Wednesday. Funds were left on the table, so to speak, for several different reasons. For example, in fiscal year 2020, Agriculture did not receive a General Fund allotment because they did not submit a request to the Office of Management and Budget. “In response to our inquiry, the agriculture official responsible for this task told us they were unaware of the procedure for drawing down the funds. As a result, Agriculture lost its Revolving Fund’s $500,000 allotment for the Fiscal Year 2020,” according to the report.

In 2021, Agriculture officials did request the release of $500,000 from OMB, but never received the full amount. “We asked OMB officials why the remaining $125,000 was not provided to the Revolving Fund. They did not provide an explanation,” according to the report. A member of Gov. Albert Bryan Jr.’s Cabinet since he took office in 2019, former OMB Director Jenifer O’Neal resigned in June while under investigation by the FBI. She was recently indicted by a grand jury and pleaded not guilty Friday to accepting $17,730 in bribes.