USVI Economic Development Authority, Bureau of Economic Research outline financing, housing and workforce priorities before Senate committee

Wayne Biggs Jr., chief executive officer of the U.S. Virgin Islands Economic Development Authority, and Haldane E. Davies, director of the Virgin Islands Bureau of Economic Research, testified June 9 to the Committee on Economic Development and Agriculture about ongoing programs and constraints shaping economic recovery and growth.

The Virgin Islands Economic Development Authority (USVI EDA) told senators it operates four main pillars—the Economic Development Bank (EDB), the Economic Development Commission (EDC), the Enterprise Zone Commission (EZC) and the Economic Development Park Corporation (EDPC)—and is working to convert federal grant awards into loans, facilities and jobs while managing a constrained local appropriation budget.

“The authority has a $6.6 million local appropriation and manages more than $85 million in federal grants,” Biggs said. “We are growing our portfolio, but our local allotment has been essentially flat, which constrains staffing and operations.”

Why this matters: EDA programs funnel outside investment, administer loan guarantees and operate two industrial parks that sponsors and agency leaders said are central to attracting light manufacturing, cold‑storage and renewable‑energy assembly. Committee members raised concerns about staffing, compliance capacity and whether the territory is recovering an appropriate share of tax and community benefits from beneficiaries of EDC incentives.

Key program details and metrics cited in testimony

- SSBCI‑2: The territory was allotted $57,865,000 under the U.S. Department of the Treasury State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI‑2). A tranche of $18,900,000 was provided in February 2023; EDA reported $8,998,000 expended or committed through March 31, 2025 and said additional requests in the SSBCI pipeline total about $13,719,000. Biggs said the SSBCI program has the potential to create 99 new jobs and retain 94 jobs based on current approvals and commitments.

- EDB lending and other guarantees: The EDB said its governing board and internal credit committee approved $705,000 in new loans in the most recent period reported.

- VI Slice (home‑gap financing): The VI Slice gap‑financing program had an $8,500,000 allotment. As of June 6, 2025, EDA said it had received 74 applications, approved 54 (61 approvals were later cited during Q&A), closed 47 and committed roughly $6,300,000; about $1,200,000 remained available. Biggs and committee members discussed title issues, encumbrances and other common closing delays.

- Enterprise Zone and agro‑processing: The EZC reported four designated zones and plans for agro‑processing facilities. EDA said it is under contract to purchase a building in Frederiksted (53 AB King Street) to house an Agro and Food Innovation Center and has secured $2,000,000 in legislative funding toward that facility.

- Economic parks and microgrid: The EDPC operates the Virgin Islands Industrial Park (St. Thomas) and the William D. Robock Industrial Park (St. Croix). Both parks are reported as fully occupied; EDA described phased capital repairs and a planned microgrid at the Robock park, and said it is working with designers and seeking financing and grant funding to proceed.

Budget, staffing and compliance concerns

Biggs told senators the authority has 48 full‑time employees, eight vacancies and said the $6.6 million local appropriation has been flat for years even as the EDC portfolio grew by roughly 33% in two years. Committee members pressed for the value of taxes paid by EDC beneficiaries; Biggs said he would provide an annual figure to the committee from the EDA’s beneficiary reports.

EDA and the committee discussed compliance backlogs: the agency reported roughly six compliance officers managing nearly 100 beneficiary files and said staff are averaging 16–20 cases each. Biggs said the compliance unit is hiring contractors and building an online compliance portal to reduce manual work and speed reviews.

Workforce, data and planning from the Bureau of Economic Research

Dr. Haldane Davies (Bureau of Economic Research) described the bureau’s role as the territory’s principal statistical agency and listed near‑term priorities including expanding accommodation data, refreshing the comprehensive economic development strategy (Division 2040/SEDS), adopting additional impact‑modeling software, and conducting a household income and expenditure survey. Davies said the bureau is working with the Office of Insular Affairs and the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis to restore and improve GDP reporting, which the bureau said last published for 2022 and is temporarily paused pending data‑collection improvements.

Inflation and regional detail

BER staff cited transportation and fuel costs as major drivers of higher consumer prices on St. John. Senior project analyst Bernisha Leibard told senators gasoline and transportation are the principal drivers of the island’s higher local inflation rate.

EDA’s sector priorities and business attraction

Biggs said EDA is promoting the South Shore Trade Zone for light manufacturing, assembly and transshipment (including cold storage), and is courting interest in renewable‑energy assembly, medical devices, and plastics recycling. He told the panel the territory’s tariff and Jones Act position make the South Shore Trade Zone attractive to some investors, but stressed the immediate constraint is ready facilities: “If we had two additional buildings we could fill them right away,” he said.

Town hall and next steps

EDA announced an SSBCI town hall for small businesses and lenders (UVI Great Hall, St. Croix; ACC Center, St. Thomas) to explain the program and pipeline. Senators asked for written follow‑ups on tax contributions by EDC beneficiaries, detailed SSBCI pipeline counts, VI Slice breakdown by island and a schedule for production of 2025 living‑wage and related BER studies.

Ending

Agency leaders asked the committee for clearer, predictable allotments and more operational funding, while committing to provide the committee requested tax and program detail. Committee members said they will review the quantitative follow‑ups and pressed both agencies to accelerate compliance and reporting work so the Legislature can better judge program performance and public benefits.