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NMI gets new Compact money
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Posted on Feb 24 2005
The CNMI has received the go-signal to use its 2005 Compact Impact money totaling $5.2 million, which the government intends to allot for education-related projects.
Although the money is not literally here yet, the governor’s senior policy adviser, Robert Schwalbach, said yesterday that the funds will be made available for use as soon as the U.S. Department of the Interior receives the CNMI’s plan of action.
He said the Fiscal Year 2005 Compact grant will be used mainly for the Public School System’s immediate infrastructure needs—as pledged earlier by Gov. Juan N. Babauta. The governor had committed to use Compact Impact funds in the next four years for PSS-related projects.
So far, Schwalbach said, the PSS has submitted a $3.6 million budget request for immediate renovation and repair of schools. The remaining Compact funds, he said, would go to other education-related projects.
Meantime, Schwalbach said the FY 2004 Compact money was given to the Department of Public Safety and Department of Public Health. A small portion of it was also shared with the Department of Youth Services and the Public Defenders Office.
PSS officials had earlier inquired as to how the FY 2004 Compact money was spent, citing that the agency got nothing from it.
Schwalbach said the Babauta administration deemed it necessary to share the FY 2004 Compact money with DPS and DPH since the FY 2003’s Compact funds went mainly to Tinian school project as well as the Governor’s Education Initiative.
The CNMI is entitled to $5.2 million as its annual funding share in the next five years from the $30 million Compact Impact legislation.
The total federal budget would be made available to Hawaii, Guam, CNMI, and American Samoa over 20 years to help them cushion the impact of migration from other Pacific Islands.
The annual funding share may change after every five years depending on the assessment made by the federal government.
The law requires each jurisdiction to submit reports and other documentation necessary for the release of the funds.
