Spending-cut measures get backing

A resolution set to be filed at the House of Representatives will press administration officials to strictly implement a package of austerity measures proposed by the Office of the Public Auditor in light of shrinking government revenues.

Rep. Melvin Faisao yesterday vowed to pursue the initiative to compel various departments and agencies to reduce their spending amid deepening financial crisis besetting the cash-strapped NMI government.

The move followed a recommendation from Public Auditor Leo L. LaMotte sought earlier by the representative, identifying more than $23 million in unessential appropriations under the FY 1999 budget package.

A House resolution on the OPA report will help send the message to the Tenorio administration that these cost-cutting measures are necessary to be undertaken now, according to Faisao.

“We are looking at more than $23 million in savings which this government can use for other essential services,” he told in an interview yesterday.

While Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio has outlined several ways to tighten fiscal spending this year that included restricted government trips and freeze hiring, some agencies apparently have been breaching the executive order issued days after he assumed office in early 1998.

“There have been some belt-tightening efforts,” Faisao explained, “but some departments are being sacrificed over other agencies which provide more essential services.”

Although he declined to give details, the House member hinted that some government offices have been spared from drastic reduction in their allotment “more likely out of political favor.”

In his recommendation released last month, LaMotte prodded the administration to eliminate or curb spending in some of its functions in a bid to shore up the dwindling local coffers as the island economy continues to suffer from the Asian crisis.

At least $10 million will be saved if it strictly complies with the freeze hiring and deferment of salary raise for government employees as proposed by Tenorio last January in the first wave of austerity measures, he said.

Personnel costs would be pared down if the vacant full-time positions are not filled and overtime pay, which was budgeted at $2.78 million, is restricted without affecting daily operations of the government.

Payroll for the nearly 5,000 civil service employees and contractual workers eats up more than 75 percent of the entire appropriations for 1999, equivalent to $184.76 million for the current fiscal year.

LaMotte also suggested privatizing some functions, such as the repairs and maintenance section of the Department of Public Works, to trim down the number of staff and remove what he called inefficient and unskilled workers.

The proposed resolution, according to Faisao, will allow the administration to follow the OPA recommendation to “live within its means.”

He said: “The message is that our funds are drying up fast and all of us need to sacrifice instead of laying off employees who must work to survive during these difficult times.”