USVI Government Budget
The USVI Budget, By the Numbers
How much the territorial government has proposed to spend each year — what the General Fund covers, where the money comes from, and how it's changed under the Bryan administration.
A note on what this page shows
The figures below reflect proposed executive budgets — what the Governor submitted to the Legislature each year. These are not audited actual expenditure figures, which are produced separately after each fiscal year closes. The FY2027 figure is Bryan's final budget proposal as Governor; it is currently under legislative review as of June 2026. Sources: Government of the U.S. Virgin Islands Office of Management and Budget, VI Daily News, VI Consortium.
General Fund Appropriations — Four Years
Governor Bryan's proposed General Fund budgets, FY2024 through FY2027.
FY2027: Bryan's Final Budget as Governor
Governor Bryan's FY2027 executive budget — described as his last budget proposal before the 2026 election — proposes $958.2 million in General Fund appropriations, with a total budget across all funding sources reaching $1.64 billion. That total breaks down as $958.2 million in General Fund appropriations, $93.4 million in other appropriated funds, $43.6 million in other non-appropriated funds, and $543.3 million in federal funds. The budget is themed "Investing Today for Tomorrow's Communities" and focuses on infrastructure, recreation, and housing.
Projected gross revenues for FY2027 are estimated at approximately $1.04 billion in total collections. The Office of Disaster Recovery anticipates $733.9 million will be spent on recovery projects during FY2027 — the single largest category of spending in the territorial outlook and expected to generate $36.7 million in residual revenue through gross receipts taxes on construction activity.
Where the revenue comes from
The FY2027 budget projects growth across most major tax categories compared to FY2026 estimates. Personal income tax is projected to grow roughly 2%, from $421.8 million to $428 million. Gross receipts tax — the territory's largest single revenue source — is projected to rise 6.3%, from $230.4 million to $245 million in baseline terms, potentially reaching $274.7 million if disaster recovery construction activity drives additional taxable transactions. Excise taxes are projected to jump 14.2%, from $37.7 million to $43 million, driven by tourism and construction activity. Real property tax is projected to rise modestly from $55 million to $56.2 million, supported by a $1 billion increase in total assessed property value territory-wide — from $15.3 billion to $16.3 billion — as appraisers visited previously unassessed structures.
OMB Director Julio Rhymer also flagged a persistent structural problem: some agencies have between $12 million and $20 million in unpaid bills that have never been submitted to OMB or Finance, creating unpredictable cash flow problems and delaying vendor payments across government.
Health insurance — the fastest-growing line item
Combined government health insurance costs covering more than 25,000 employees and dependents rose from $198.9 million in FY2024 to $206.1 million in FY2025, then jumped to $226.1 million in FY2026 — a $20.2 million increase, or 14.8%, in a single year. Employees cover 27% of premium costs. FY2027 contract negotiations must be completed by September 2026 when the current contract expires, and the final cost for that year had not yet been determined as of June 2026.
$1.86 Billion CDBG-DR Housing Pipeline
HUD's Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery program is funding homeowner rehabilitation, new affordable housing construction, and rental assistance, with at least 70% required to benefit low-to-moderate income residents. Active sites include D. Hamilton Jackson Terrace (St. Croix), Estate Donoe (St. Thomas), and Lovenlund Phase II (St. John).
$1.25 Billion St. Croix Water System Replacement
A single FEMA obligation will replace pump stations, water tanks, piping, and fire hydrants across Christiansted and Frederiksted — part of a larger $3.2 billion FEMA commitment covering utility repairs and consolidated road repaving across St. Croix.
$704 Million in School Reconstruction
Combining FEMA's $384.8 million commitment to replace four elementary schools and the $319 million St. Croix Central High School rebuild, this is one of the largest single categories of recovery spending — and one of the slowest, with senators repeatedly criticizing FEMA's pace of environmental review and documentation.
New JFL Hospital — Cost Not Yet Finalized
The full replacement of Juan F. Luis Hospital on St. Croix is underway, with demolition and reconstruction beginning in 2026 on a four-to-five-year timeline. The project's total cost hasn't been publicly finalized as design work continues, but it represents one of the largest single infrastructure investments in the territory's history.
The 7,000-Worker Gap
Office of Disaster Recovery Director Adrienne Williams-Octalien told lawmakers the territory would need roughly 7,000 additional workers beyond its existing population to execute the full scope of the $23 billion recovery pipeline — a gap she called "pretty much unattainable with our existing population."
Why the Money Moves Slowly
Much of the delay isn't about funding availability — it's federal environmental review. FEMA officials have said environmental review alone for a single major project like the JFL hospital demolition can take nearly two years, a process applied nationwide and required before federal dollars can be spent, regardless of local readiness.
We would need 7,000 workforce employees outside of the existing population. There's a lot to be done but there's a gap from the very beginning that is pretty much unattainable with our existing population. We're really at an employee deficit and we will need more than what we have.
A note on the workforce comparison: The "~39,000" total USVI workforce figure is an approximate estimate, not a precisely sourced labor statistic — exact current labor force size varies by source and methodology. The 7,000-worker gap itself is a direct, sourced figure from ODR Director Williams-Octalien's testimony to lawmakers.
Source: Government of the U.S. Virgin Islands, Office of Management and Budget (FY2026 and FY2027 executive budget submissions); VI Daily News ("Bryan's last budget proposal totals $1.64 billion," June 2026); VI Consortium (FY2027 budget hearing coverage); Office of Disaster Recovery; FEMA; FY2027 Operating Budget Book published via OpenGov at stories.opengov.com/usvi. Figures reflect proposed executive budgets at time of submission and may differ from final enacted appropriations after legislative amendment.
How the process works
Each year, the Governor submits an executive budget proposal to the Legislature. Lawmakers then hold individual budget hearings with every department and agency, where commissioners and directors testify and answer questions before the Committee on Budget, Appropriations, and Finance. The committee can add, cut, or restructure line items before sending appropriation bills to the full Legislature for a vote — and even after passage, the Governor retains line-item veto authority over specific provisions before signing.
That means the dollar figure the Governor proposes in the spring is rarely the exact figure that ends up enacted by the fall. What follows are documented examples of where the numbers actually moved.
$896.8M General Fund Proposed
Governor Bryan's FY2025 executive budget proposed $896.8 million from the General Fund, part of a $1.44 billion total budget across all funds. OMB's then-director Jenifer O'Neal noted the proposal aimed to build cash reserves by reducing spending, with all revenue figures based on projections tied to school rebuilding and other major recovery projects.
Programs Restored That the Executive Budget Left Unfunded
Senator Donna Frett-Gregory, chairing the Committee on Budget, Appropriations and Finance, said lawmakers found the Governor's revenue projections "very aggressive and not necessarily in line with what we've seen historically." The committee added back funding the executive budget had omitted, including the National Guard's About Face program and the Meals on Wheels program — adding a line item for two new vehicles and two new staff positions after learning the program faced financial collapse.
Governor's Line-Item Vetoes After Legislative Passage
Even after the Legislature passed the FY2024 budget, Governor Bryan used line-item veto authority to make corrections before signing — including striking a duplicate $8,000 VIPD Police Athletic League appropriation, correcting a typographical error in VITEMA's budget (fixing $363,892 to the intended $636,892), and flagging that VIPD's total should read $74,542,585. He also noted the bill, as passed, had no funding appropriated for repair of Contentment Road.
How Individual Agency Budgets Shift in Committee
Department-level hearings show the same back-and-forth at smaller scale. The Department of Agriculture's proposed FY2025 budget fell about 24% from FY2024, while the Department of Education's proposed allocation jumped from $67.7 million to $170 million year-over-year — increases and cuts that get scrutinized, and sometimes adjusted, line-by-line in committee before final passage.
A note on completeness: We have not yet identified a single, comprehensive public document listing the Governor's original requested total alongside the Legislature's final enacted total for each fiscal year, side by side. What's documented here are specific, sourced examples of where and how the numbers changed during the legislative process. We'll update this section with cleaner year-over-year request-vs-enacted comparisons if and when that data becomes available in a consolidated form.