(a) The purpose of this section is to establish a special fund and provide for the maintenance of a special bank account exclusively for funding repairs and renovations to the wastewater system throughout the Virgin Islands pursuant to the Amended Consent Decree and the Decision and Order of the District Court of the Virgin Islands dated December 19, 2001, in the case of United States of America v. Government of the Virgin Islands, Civil No. 1984–104 (D.V.I. 1984). The establishment of the special fund and the associated special bank account and the funding of the projects identified under this section are intended to bring the Government of the Virgin Islands into compliance with the Amended Consent Decree, thus overhauling the wastewater system throughout the Virgin Islands and protecting the environment from sewage pollution.
(b) There is established in the Treasury of the Virgin Islands a fund designated the “Special Projects/Wastewater System Repairs Fund”. The Commissioner of Finance shall administer the Fund as a separate and distinct fund in the Treasury of the Virgin Islands, and no amounts in the Fund shall be available for expenditure or disbursement except as provided in this section.
(c) The Fund shall consist of sums received as annual and supplemental appropriations by the Legislature of the Virgin Islands and all sums received from grants and other financial assistance from the federal government and other public or private grants and gifts.
(d) Monies in the Fund shall be used for the wastewater projects and the repairs to the wastewater system listed in Exhibit A of the Consent Decree, or other projects as may be ordered by the Court under Civil Action No. 1984–104.
(e) The Commissioner of Finance shall deposit the monies contained in the Fund in a separate, interest-bearing account pursuit to chapter 117 of this title.
(1) The Commissioner of Finance and the Commissioner of Public Works have the joint authority to make direct disbursements from the account and to sign all checks written on the account, without the need to obtain approval from any other agency or official of the Government of the Virgin Islands.
(2) The Commissioner of Finance and the Commissioner of Public Works shall be responsible for ensuring that monies in the account are used exclusively for the projects listed in Exhibit A of the Consent Decree.
(3) Until all of the projects have been completed, the Commissioner of Finance shall submit to the Governor and to the Legislature quarterly reports on any deposits made into and any expenditure made from the account during the preceding quarter, and the balance of the account at the end of the quarter. For each expenditure, the Commissioner of Finance shall identify the particular project or repair involved and explain the nature of the expenditure.
(f) In addition to the quarterly reports on the account established in subsection (e) of this section, the Commissioner of Finance shall maintain a detailed accounting record of all monies deposited into and disbursed from the Fund and shall submit a report on the financial status of the Fund to the Governor and the Legislature annually, at the close of each fiscal year.