Lawmakers Grill WICO Over $11.8M Unpaid PILOT Amid Cruise Revenue Rebound

Virgin Islands senators pressed the West Indian Company Limited on millions of dollars in unpaid payment-in-lieu-of-taxes during an oversight hearing, questioning why the government-owned cruise port operator has paid nothing for years even as revenues rise and cruise traffic rebounds.

WICO, which operates the main cruise ship docking facilities on St. Thomas, appeared before the Legislature’s Economic Development and Agriculture Committee to explain its finances, governance, and future plans. Lawmakers focused on roughly $11.8 million the public corporation owes in payment-in-lieu-of-taxes, a payment set up by law for public corporations that cannot be taxed directly, and what that debt means for the government after hurricanes and the COVID-19 shutdown.

Committee members began by emphasizing that WICO is a public entity subject to territorial law. Company president and chief executive officer Joseph Boschulte reminded senators that “The West Indian Company Limited is a U.S. Virgin Islands corporation… granted the status and authority of a public corporation pursuant to its enabling statute, Act Number 5826.”

The dispute centered on WICO’s failure to make any PILOT payments for many years. By law, the company must pay the greater of 10% of its revenues or $700,000 annually. Senators said that the obligation has gone unmet even as revenue improved, and Chair Hubert Frederick told Boschulte that “zero is not an option” for a government-owned corporation.