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Senator urges against reprogramming Rota funds
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Posted on Jun 26 2020
A lawmaker is urging the Department of Finance not to reprogram any Rota public and local law funds.
In a letter dated June 22, Sen. Teresita Santos (Ind-Rota) asked Finance Secretary David Atalig to spare Rota public and local law funds, including any balances from previous appropriation acts, from being reallocated elsewhere.
The senator stressed that the people and municipality of Rota are suffering tremendously and that reprogramming any currently available funds would jeopardize local programs.
“Despite the reopening of the CNMI economy, Rota has yet to generate any substantial funds available for appropriation. As a result, it is imperative to safeguard all the existing Rota local funds from all sources,” she said.
In her letter, Santos asked Atalig to certify whether or not the Rota Legislative Delegation owes the general fund $290,000, in reference to the appropriation for Rota under Public Law 21-10, which can be used to partially pay any of the delegation’s outstanding obligation to the general fund.
According to the senator, the Finance secretary specifically mentioned in a meeting that the Rota Legislative Delegation owes the central government $564,000.
“It has come to my attention that the governor has given your office fiscal reprograming authority during this challenging economic time and COVID-19 pandemic response. The municipality of Rota has very limited local funds from poker fees, e-gaming fees and casino gross revenue taxes,” she said. “These local funds are used to pay for Rota local programs such the interisland medical referral, medical subsistence allowances, local infrastructure projects as well as to supplement the operations of the Office of the Mayor of Rota.”
Last June 15, the House of Representatives unanimously passed on first reading House Bill 21-116, authored by Rep. Donald M. Manglona (Ind-Rota) to reprogram $290,000 to support Rota’s interisland medical referral patients and hemodialysis and terminally-ill patients.
Public Law 21-10 appropriated $220,000 for about 140 Rota dialysis and terminally ill patients’ monthly subsistence allowance, but it only covered the funding from May to October 2019.
