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Inos: Govt cuts include critical services
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Posted on Jan 07 2009
Critical services, such as education, public health and public safety, are a part of Gov. Benigno R. Fitial’s 5.5 percent budget cut to all government agencies, the Secretary of Finance said.
In a letter to the Legislature last week, Fitial said that budgets of all government agencies would be slashed beginning Jan. 1 due to dwindling government revenues and a lack of a budget. According to Fitial, the proportionate cut will help the government, which expects to collect $156.7 million, to finish the fiscal year in the black.
Finance Secretary Eloy Inos said the current cuts are the “first round.” By law the budget must be reduced proportionately, he said.
After the proportionate cuts, the Executive Branch will see if money can be reallocated within the reprogramming authority to critical areas.
Reprogramming from non-critical to critical areas would be the “second round” of budget allocation, Inos said, adding that the Finance Department is working on calculating the expenditure numbers through Sept. 30—the end of the fiscal year—to establish trends and determine where to cut.
