NMC eyes tuition to meet payroll
A proposal to use “All Others” funding derived from tuition fees collected to meet this fiscal year’s payroll shortfall amounting to over $400,000 was presented to the Board of Regents yesterday.
Budget Officer David Atalig said some $475,000 savings will be realized if the Board will suspend all travels as well as professional development training and reduce capital equipment purchases.
These savings will strictly come from the revenues of the Northern Marianas College and will not take any money from the appropriated budget, he said.
According to Atalig, this year’s payroll shortfall will not consume the anticipated savings of $475,000 and the remaining amount will help NMC’s depleted resources to deal with the Y2K problem. It will also reflect funding for the new programs created under the recently approved organizational chart.
However, this budget proposal to meet the shortfall was shelved by the Board after members Vince Seman and Helen Abayare expressed reservations to approve it.
Seman was asking from the budget office to plot a proposal that will include the cost difference, if there is any, between the past payroll and the present numbers under the new organizational chart.
Initial computations claimed no significant cost difference between the old and new structure.
The annual payroll shortfall of NMC has been one of the concerns surrounding the mismanagement issue over its financial affairs. Earlier interviews with NMC President Agnes McPhetres traced back the deficit since the time of former Gov. Larry Guerrero. Since Guerrero’s time up to Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio, NMC was extended with its annual bail-out.
This year’s shortfall is probably the lowest deficit compared to previous years. Some $1.5 million shortfall was recorded last year.
