Legislators support less government work hours

The legislature is ready to support moves that will cut down government work hours in a last-ditch effort to reduce payroll costs and deal with possible economic recession in the CNMI, according to some lawmakers.

House Ways and Means Committee chair Rep. Karl T. Reyes said at least $6 million would be saved per year if the government slash one hour from the current daily work period.

This reduction is a better alternative to laying off government employees, he said in response to call from economic analysts to implement the necessary measure in view of the weak economic conditions on the island.

According to Reyes, whose committee will soon review the FY 2000 budget, continuous plunge in revenue collections should be dealt with by Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio’s administration to prevent deficit at the end of the fiscal year.

“One of the ways to cut down the amount of payable, which mean payroll, (is that) payroll could be tailored in such a way that the government figure out how much they can meet based on revenues generated,” he said in an interview.

Since figures from the finance department have consistently shown declining income, it is incumbent for the CNMI government to seek ways to reduce its spending, Reyes pointed out.

The Northern Marianas is reeling from its worst crisis in years spawned by the prolonged recession in Asia, its main source of tourism revenues and investments, that has pulled revenues in the past one and a half year.

While Tenorio has trimmed the current spending level to $216 million, he projects that next year’s budget would further go down to $202 million due to the unchanging climate in Asian markets.

House Commerce and Tourism Committee chair Rep. Oscar M. Babauta underscored the need to seriously consider paring down personnel costs, pointing to the decision by autonomous agencies, like the Commonwealth Ports Authority, to reduce the work hours.

“This is a less painful option for the government than to lay off people,” he said in a separate interview.

Babauta, however, prodded the administration to step up austerity measures in other areas to spare the payroll which represents about 75 percent of the entire CNMI budget.

House Speaker Diego T. Benavente also expressed optimism that current efforts to spur the local economy will not result to drastic cost-cutting measures affecting the public sector work force.

He believed economic analysts are presenting worst-case scenario when the garment industry is forced to shut down and relocate factories elsewhere as well as when the tourism sector continues to suffer from the Asian turmoil.

“If that is the case, there will have to be some actions whether to reduce hours or to lay people off but that’s not where we are aiming right now,” Benavente explained. “What we are aiming to do is to stimulate the economy, try to generate revenues so that we will not have to do that.”

He also called for additional cuts in unnecessary expenditures of the government to prevent deficit that could send the CNMI into deeper financial trouble.