‘Furloughs won’t affect Saipan Mayor’s Office’

Saipan Mayor Juan B. Tudela may get to keep all of his employees after all.

This developed following the resignation of 13 of his staff, allowing him to avoid furloughing the rest of his employees up to Sept. 30, the end of the current fiscal year.

From 64 personnel two months ago, Tudela now has only 50 employees, majority of whom are assigned to key programs and divisions that directly involve the delivery of services.

“Furloughs would not happen here. The Saipan Mayor’s Office is still OK until the end of the fiscal year, with or without furloughs,” he said yesterday, adding that the allocated $1.1 million personnel cost will pay for his remaining 50 employees.

Tudela said he discussed this with Gov. Benigno R. Fitial in a meeting last week.

“I informed the governor that we will be okay until September … and we don’t need to enforce the furlough or termination of employees—at least at the Saipan Mayor’s Office—because we lost some staff recently,” he said, adding that the resignations and transfers of 13 employees helped him adjust his office’s personnel cost.

Besides the hiring freeze on replacement positions, Tudela said his office is also maximizing available manpower to prevent them from hiring more people.

Tudela, who is in his last term as mayor, admitted that that he does not want to displace his employees.

He conceded that his situation won’t likely be the case for Rota and Tinian, which have 136 and nearly 100 employees, respectively.

In February, the mayor warned that the severe condition of the government’s general fund this fiscal year will leave his office no option but to implement a wage cut on all personnel until the CNMI’s revenue stream recovers.

From a previous annual budget of $2.5 million for Saipan, the amount dropped significantly, resulting in only $1.2 million for personnel costs this fiscal year. The amount reflects the 5 percent across-the-board cut on allotments of all government instrumentalities.

With the limited budget for personnel and operations, the mayor said there’s always the chance for a shortfall.

This year’s approved budget does not include the austerity and non-paid holiday proposals of the Fitial administration, forcing the administration to implement non-renewals, furloughs, and terminations of contracts. It was earlier projected that the islands’ mayor’s offices would mostly bear the brunt of the cuts.

Last fiscal year, a number of municipality employees were issued notices of termination and non-renewal of their contracts. The order, however, was later rescinded until the end of the fiscal year.

In February, Taotao Tano Group president Gregorio Cruz raised concerns over Tudela’s personnel staffing. He said that 21 personnel are each receiving up to $31,500 per annum, compared to the majority’s $12,000 to $18,000. Cruz added that majority of these 21 “high-paying” personnel are relatives of the mayor.

Tudela repeatedly denied Cruz’s allegations but has refused to discuss personnel matters in public.