Tinian slashes working time of gov't employees

The Tinian municipal government has started a cutback in man hours of its employees to cope with a tight budget, and may further reduce the working hours if revenue collections continue to drop, Mayor Francisco M. Borja’s chief aide said yesterday.

Under the most serious cost-cutting steps Borja has taken so far, employees working for the Office of the Mayor have been asked to perform services one hour less than the daily eight hours requirement.

William Cing, executive officer for the mayor’s office, explained the move was intended to keep some 130 workers employed despite shrinking cash resources.

“We needed to ensure that we live within whatever is allotted for the mayor’s office without resorting to layoff,” Cing said in a phone interview. “This is our contribution to help alleviate the government’s empty coffers.”

In the FY 1999 spending package approved by the Legislature, the island municipality was supposed to receive some $1.63 million in quarterly appropriations.

But because of the 13.4 percent anticipated decline in revenues that would bring down resource projections to $216 million from $246 million, actual allotment received by the mayor’s office only amounted to $778,000.

The reduction in work hours has cut down by $16 million to $136,000 the expenditures of the mayor’s office for personnel costs every pay period.

“We were really hit hard in the second quarter and we’re forced to cut the working hours in order to avoid a deficit and layoff,” Cing said, but warned, “If we found that cash is not enough then we should further reduce the working hours.”

He said the mayor’s office has put in place a package of austerity measures in line with Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio’s call for belt-tightening because of the worsening economic condition of the commonwealth.