Collection letters flood PSS

By MARCONI CALINDAS
Reporter

Lawyers of various vendors and suppliers are pelting the Public School System with collection letters, reminding it of pending payments owed for the procurement of materials and services rendered to the entire school system.

One such letter is collecting on payments owed for the repair of the school buses that now amount to $20,000—just one of PSS’ unpaid operational expenses.

Due to lack of funds, however, these arrears could not be paid immediately.

“And they want to get paid. It’s very important that we do that,” PSS associate commissioner David M. Borja said.

He also expressed concern over the pending “all others account” arrears of the school system. He said that PSS has promised these vendors that they would be paid when the money is transferred to their office.

The vendors are asking PSS to pay them outstanding amounts that were due since last year, because these vendors claim that they have to use that money to pay their business gross revenue taxes, which are due by the end of this month.

Borja said that, if the Department of Finance remits the $2 million promised to PSS before Jan. 31, the vendors would be able to pay their BGRT.

In a letter sent by Finance Secretary Fermin M. Atalig to PSS last Jan. 7, Atalig assured that the department will transfer the $2 million remaining balance to cover all pay periods and operational expenses by the end of the month.

The Finance Department remitted to PSS yesterday an approximate amount of $1.3 million for PSS pay period number one.

A media report (not the Saipan Tribune) said that Finance Department was supposed to transfer the remaining $2 million last week but this did not happen. DOF clarified that his office made no promise that the balance would be remitted Friday last week. That amount is supposed to be taken from the Compact Impact funds, as well as from the BGRT.

Borja also reacted to the issue, saying “I don’t know where the other newspaper got that information.”

Borja recalled that during their meeting at the Office of the Governor before the supposed public school shutdown, the governor’s staff assured PSS that they would follow what Atalig had told PSS: that all arrears will be paid on or before Jan. 31.