Committee backs higher container fees, creates anti-litter fund to fund waste cleanup

The Committee on Budget, Appropriations and Finance voted to approve Bill No. 36-0039 as amended, increasing fees on certain imported containers and flat-rack containers and splitting new revenue 50% to the government general fund and 50% to an Anti-Litter and Beautification Fund.

The amendment passed in committee assigns 50% of the revenue to the government general fund and 50% to the Anti-Litter and Beautification Fund established under Title 33, V.I. Code, section 3079; of that 50%, 25% must be used for garbage collection, solid-waste removal and territorywide beautification, and 25% to fund a territorial anti-litter beautification summer program administered by the Virgin Islands Waste Management Authority. Senator Hubert L. Frederick offered the amendment and the motion to report the bill favorably; the committee approved the measure by roll call (six yes, one absent) and sent it to the Committee on Rules and Judiciary for further consideration.

Why it matters: Committee members and witnesses said the change is intended to create a new, recurring revenue stream to address long-standing waste-management problems — including large numbers of illegally…