Election panel’s pockets nearly empty

There’s still eight more months to go before the end of the fiscal year but the Commonwealth Election Commission has only about $10,000 left in its “all-others” funding—about a fourth of the ‘all-others’ that was originally allocated to the agency for the entire fiscal year.

The Commonwealth Election Commission said in a statement yesterday that it spent over 75 percent of its fiscal year 2006 “all-others” funding to cover the cost of the 2005 general election.

“Obviously, the commission now has about $10,000 in “all-others” funding for the remaining eight months of fiscal year 2006 or until Sept. 30, 2006,” said executive director Gregorio Sablan.

He said the funds that were used in the election were for the most part appropriated for the annual, normal operating costs of keeping the commission opened to serve the general public.

In an e-mail interview, Sablan said that the agency’s “all-others” was about $62,000.

“We spent about $46,000 to cover such costs as the helicopter rental, airplane rental, payment, meals and water for election workers, cost of bringing in site support personnel from the U.S., postage for absentee voters, telephone set up for Rota and Tinian polling site, board meetings, etc.,” he said.

The remaining $15,000 is for the 4th quarter of the fiscal year. “But when you [take out] the 1 percent for OPA, 2 percent for deficit reduction reserves, [and] the 19-percent reduction based on new projections for FY 2006, only $10,000 remains in our account for costs until Sept. 30,2006,” Sablan added.

He said that Special Assistant for Management and Budget Tony Muña is now looking for funding sources that he could tap into to “replenish” at least partially the direct cost associated with the conduct of the 2005 general election.

“But government revenues are declining and that means that cost-cutting measures must be implemented,” he said.

As part of the cost-cutting measures, the commission has disconnected two of its telephone numbers: 664-8680 and 664-8682. The public can still call the commission by calling its main telephone number at 664-VOTE. Its facsimile number is still 664-8689.

“We could also be reached by email to cec@saipan.com or info@votecnmi.gov.mp. In the meantime, the commission’s office remains open nine hours every government work day,” Sablan said.

The commission has also reduced other costs.

“For example, we no longer use (for months now) city water. Instead, [we are] catching all water we use from rainwater. We disputed our utility charges with [the Commonwealth utilities Corp.] and had our account credited for overcharges and have not paid CUC a cent for close to one year.

“We never had a cell phone in the office, we disconnected one of our two pagers we have, cut down the use of our eight-year-old vehicle, reduced the size of our trash collection bin, etc. We’ve always done our own building maintenance, cleaned up and did our own yard work (and can proudly claim that we have one of the best-maintained government office in the CNMI),” he said.

“We will manage for now and we know that Tony Muna is a man of his word. He will assist us with funding needs once he identifies the sources. We’ll get through. We are asking the general public’s cooperation and support while we all try our best to get through the difficult times facing our entire government.”