ST. THOMAS, Nov 06, 2009 (The Virgin Islands Daily News - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX News Network) --

The V.I. Public Finance Authority board on Thursday approved a $6.9 million administrative budget for Fiscal Year 2010 and shuffled funds for several projects.

The board approved the budget after discussing it in executive session.

The $6.9 million budget will be funded with $3.4 million drawn from the PFA's Project Fund and $3.5 million drawn from Internal Revenue Matching funds.

In other action on Thursday, the board approved:

-- Reprogramming $491,416.95 to the Public Works Department to equip and install emergency generators that the V.I. Territorial Emergency Management Agency obtained in March from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The diesel-fueled generators are to be used at the territory's emergency shelters and other areas critical to infrastructure in case of disaster. The funding will be used to build concrete slabs, construct housing for the units and to install them, including wiring, Public Works Commissioner Darryl Smalls said.

The money was originally to be used for the St. John parking facility, but the funding for that project will be coming from the territory's most recent bond issuance, Julito Francis, PFA director of finance and administration, said after the meeting.

Earlier this year, VITEMA learned that FEMA was transferring excess generators to other federal agencies and asked that the territory be considered to receive some of the machines. The V.I. government was able to obtain 38 generators from FEMA that were flown to the territory by military transport.

"We have a responsibility now to actually have them installed," Smalls told members of the board on Thursday.

- Reprogramming an additional $15,000 to the Housing, Parks and Recreation Department to make additional repairs to the Elena Christian Junior High School tennis and basketball courts.

The reprogrammed money came from a project to relocate the Lt. Governor's Office to Hospital Street in Christiansted -- a project that was tabled because the building required significantly more renovation to accommodate the high customer volume at the Lt. Governor's Office.

Last month, the PFA board reprogrammed $55,000 to Housing, Parks and Recreation for the renovations at the Elena Christian basketball and tennis courts.

Roy Canton Jr., Housing, Parks and Recreation territorial director of planning and development, told the board on Thursday that once the area around the courts was cleared, officials determined that the level of damage would require more repair than they originally thought.

- Reprogramming $16,000 to Housing, Parks and Recreation to assemble and install portable bleachers at the D.C. Canegata Sports Complex on St. Croix.

The bleachers will be positioned near the tennis courts and basketball courts at the complex. Each set of bleachers will seat approximately 50 to 75 people, Canton said after the meeting.

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