Speeding Past Accountability

As I sat down to write this article, I’ll admit — I wasn’t sure what else to say. Every news outlet has already reported on the Governor’s raise. Everyone on social media has weighed in with outrage, memes, and hashtags. Two arguments can be made: Anti-Raise – The salary is already high compared to other jurisdictions. The timing is bad. The optics are worse. Pro-Raise – the Governor of the Virgin Islands has not gotten a raise in almost 20 years; the rising commissioners salaries has put upward pressure on the chief executive’s salary, and the Governor’s salary lags that of local judges and the delegate to Congress.

But even with everyone screaming the merits of their argument, what stood out to me most — and what no one seemed to be talking about — was a single line in the public payroll data: the Governor of the Virgin Islands is the 144th highest-paid government employee.

Let that sink in.

Public salary records show 143 government employees earned more than the territory’s chief executive in 2024. Many of those people are police officers and corrections staff who earned extraordinary sums of money through overtime.

The Senate is due to convene this week to debate the raises and will likely move to rescind them. While that might offer some political relief, let’s be clear: rescinding the raises would save a paltry sum compared to the millions of dollars being drained each year through unchecked overtime abuse. According to the Open Finance website, the top 143 government employees made $13.5 million in overtime last year. If the Senate truly wants to demonstrate fiscal responsibility, it should start there.

The Math Does Not Math

Please skip to ‘The Math’ section below for individuals who want to check my math and are not easily bored by algebra.

The issue of excessive overtime pay within the police department comes up at least once a year on the Senate floor. A particularly concerning example is that of a bike patrol officer, who had a base pay of $76,055 in 2023 but was able to more than quadruple his pay to $318,163 by working overtime. In 2024, the same officer had a base pay of $74,114 but quadrupled his pay again to $305,673 after earning $231,559 in overtime. When employer-paid benefits and miscellaneous “other pay” are included, government records show the VIPD paid this veteran officer over $387,000 and $369,000 in 2023 and 2024, respectively. This situation is ridiculous and highlights significant flaws in the current system.

Based on the union contract, to earn that amount, this officer would have needed to work an average of 109 hours per week, or 15 hours and 30 minutes every single day of 2023, without a day off. Then, he followed it up by working 15 hours and 12 minutes every day in 2024 without a day off. If the officer were to take a day off, they would have to make up the hours throughout the year. So, some days would require working more than 15 hours and 30 minutes. It is important to note that there are only 168 hours a week, meaning that the officer had approximately 59 hours left (~ 8 hours per day) for sleeping, eating, interacting with family, etc.  

Impossible, no. Highly improbable – Yes.  

Two years in a row? Yeah, right.

If you believe that I have a great deal for you on Queen Mary’s used iPhone.

Assumes 7 day work-week, 365 day work-year, which means no holidays, weekends or days off for an entire year.

What Kind of Society Pays a Bike Patrol Officer More than its Governor? 

One where taxpayer dollars are treated like Monopoly money.

To put this into perspective, many police chiefs nationwide earn significantly less than $380,000 per year. For instance, the average salary for police chiefs in major U.S. cities typically ranges between $100,000 to $200,000, depending on the city’s size and budget. The police chief of Dallas makes $306,000 per year.

Let’s be real: It’s wild that we are outraged the Governor wants to raise his salary from $150,000 to $192,000 — but no one bats an eye when multiple police officers are making over $275,000. That’s not just hypocrisy — it’s financial malpractice. No one can consistently work 100+ hours a week without risk of burnout, poor performance, or public harm. It also warps career incentives — why seek a promotion to a management role if doing so means losing the chance to rack up overtime pay? This creates a paradox where promotions, usually seen as a reward for good work, results in a significant pay cut, leading to reluctance among officers to move up the ranks. Hilariously, given the lucrative overtime offered, most officers would not leave the VIPD to become a medical doctor.

Source: US News & World Report

Metrics and Accountability

Given the extensive hours reportedly ‘worked’—up to 110 hours per week—one would expect a significant output regarding police metrics like arrests, traffic stops, and other activities. However, without corresponding increases in these metrics, questions arise about the validity of such overtime claims and the actual productivity of these officers.

What Should Be Done?

If the Senate wants to prove it’s serious about fiscal discipline, let’s advocate for real reform. Instead of grandstanding over $42,000, I implore the Senate to tighten the spigot on the tens of millions wasted through overtime abuse year after year.

• Set Hard Caps on Overtime Pay – No public employee should be able to earn two times more than their base salary in overtime — period. A 2:1 cap would still allow for flexibility during emergencies while preventing abuse. In the private sector, that’s standard risk management. In government, it should be non-negotiable.
• Modernize the Time Tracking System and Install GPS on all Vehicles – Invest in digital timekeeping with biometric logins and real-time dashboards accessible to management and the public. Install GPS on all patrol vehicles.  Transparency breeds accountability — and real-time data makes it harder to fudge the numbers.
• Conduct an Independent Audit – The Inspector General or an external firm should conduct a forensic audit of government payrolls — starting with the top 50 overtime earners. Where fraud or manipulation is found, referrals should be made. At a minimum, the findings will inform better policy.
• Post Timesheets Online – Require all agencies to post monthly timesheets for overtime-eligible employees in a publicly accessible format. This low-cost, high-impact reform will promote transparency, deter abuse, and help restore public trust by ensuring that compensation aligns with actual hours worked. In an era of record government salaries and widespread concern over excessive overtime, the public deserves clear, verifiable information about how their tax dollars are being spent.
• Require Rotational Assignments – Too often, a small group of overtime hoarders dominate the system. In manufacturing settings, it is not unusual for 20% of employees to collect 80% of the overtime. Any serious reform must address this imbalance to ensure fairer workloads, healthier employees, and more responsible use of taxpayer dollars.To prevent the same individuals from monopolizing overtime, implement rotating overtime eligibility across shifts and ranks. This spreads opportunity more equitably and avoids the burnout and ethical gray areas that come from three officers working 100+ hours per week.
• Tie Overtime Eligibility to Performance Metrics – There should be a clear demonstration of value before collecting tens or even hundreds of thousands in overtime. For police, that might mean a measurable increase in arrests, case resolutions, or community policing activities. No metrics? No windfall.

Final Thoughts

Simply put, the Senate will spend Wednesday, June 4th, counting relative pennies while the 100-dollar bills fly out the window.

Was the Governor’s raise perfectly timed or well-communicated? No, it wasn’t. But the real issue isn’t one man’s pay bump — it’s a broken system that rewards inefficiency, enables overtime abuse, and exposes a broader failure in financial management and accountability. If the Senate is truly serious about fiscal responsibility, it should start by focusing on the millions being wasted across government operations.  In recent history, a former VIPD Commissioner managed to reduce overtime costs by nearly a third, saving $10 million annually, with just two simple reforms: (1) requiring all overtime to be approved in advance, and (2) requiring that approval to come from a supervisor two levels up. It did not take new legislation, new software, or a task force. Just leadership.

To put it in perspective, the $13.5 million we spent last year on the top 143 earners overtime could have hired 100 traveling nurses, resurfaced 60 miles of roads, or sent 300 Virgin Islanders to college or trade school. That’s what responsible governance could look like.

We must also admit that there’s never a good time to discuss executive pay. Whatever we do, let’s ensure that we include a modest 2-3% annual raise so we can stop relitigating this every so often and start focusing on the things that actually matter — like fixing the hospitals, finally using the wood at the Alexander Henderson School, or restoring trust in government.

And hey — if we can’t fix the overtime problem, I might need to dust off my résumé and apply for a job as a police officer. At this rate, it’s the fastest path to millionaire status in the Virgin Islands. 

In my best Sean Paul voice:

”Just Gimme the Bike!”

The Math

Note that some of the math has been simplified and rounded for clarity.

We use the officer’s hourly rate to calculate the annual earnings and distinguish between regular and overtime hours. The hourly rate for regular hours is $36, and for overtime (double time), it’s $72. The equation representing the total earnings is:

36X + 72Y = 318,000

Where X represents regular hours, and Y represents overtime hours. Regular hours are defined as up to 48 hours per week, totaling X = 2,496 hours annually (48 hours/week * 52 weeks/year). 

We can substitute X in the equation:

36(2,496) + 72Y = 318,000

Solving for Y, we find the number of overtime hours:

89,856 + 72Y = 318,000

72Y = 318,000 – 89,856

72Y = 228,144

Y = 3,168

Thus, the officer worked 2,496 regular hours and 3,168 overtime hours. Or, every week, the officer worked 48 regular hours plus an additional 61 overtime hours (3,168 hours/52 weeks), totaling 109 hours per week. This translates to approximately 15.5 hours per day without taking a single day off, a highly unrealistic and unsustainable schedule over the entire year.

No calculation is ever done without checking your math.

36(2,496) + 72(3,168) =318,000

It works!

The Fine Print: This analysis is based on details from the VIPD union contract as reported by the St. Croix Source. If the actual contract terms differ, the results may vary.

If I have miscalculated anything, I humbly invite Senator Kurt Vialet — a former math teacher — to double-check my work.

I would also like to ‘big up’ my 8th grade algebra teacher – former Senator Luther Renee. Thanks, this was a lot more fun than train problems. I was finally able to apply lessons learned to benefit our community.