Retro pay uncertain

There is no assurance that the 2,000 government employees who have been waiting for their salary increase for the past nine years will get their money in the immediate future.

Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio said yesterday that while his administration is doing all it can to seek funding for the so-called retroactive pay to these employees, the government has other financial obligations to take care of.

Retirement share and utility payments are among the pressing expenditures that the administration will have to settle and seek funding amid the current financial difficulties confronting the CNMI.

“We are trying our best to find some funding for the retroactive pay,” Mr. Tenorio told reporters. “But there are so many other obligations that we are now trying to find some funding to pay to accommodate them and our resources are just barely making up.”

The government has owed over $9 million in unpaid pay raise to some 1,915 employees since 1991 when the law mandating such benefit was signed by then Gov. Larry Guerrero.

The Office of Management and Budget made that report to Sen. Edward U. Maratita who has asked for the information in preparation for a plan to pay these overdue wages.

The Rota senator, who chairs the Senate Fiscal Affairs Committee, is looking at appropriating some funds from FY 2001 budget for its settlement, saying that the mandatory pay increase for government employees has been neglected long enough.

The employees, some of whom have retired, come from several departments and agencies on Saipan, Rota and Tinian, who have been waiting for their money since 1991 when Public Law 7-31 was enacted.

Under that law, all employees who had reached the maximum salary level would have received a 14 percent across-the-board hike — benefits that were granted due to budget surplus experienced by the government at that time.

While the Legislature had inserted provisions in the fiscal budget each year to ensure payment, the administration failed to implement such increase over the last few years.

Some select employees managed to collect the money due them during former Gov. Froilan C. Tenorio, but many have yet to receive the payment until now due to present financial problems.

Lawmakers are expected to begin deliberation soon on the projected $220 million budget for the next fiscal year and this early, they want to find out financial impact if they decide to include payment of the retroactive hike under the spending package.