House to begin FY 2000 budget review

The House Ways and Means Committee is expected to start within the next few weeks review of the proposed budget for FY 2000 as it has already asked various departments and agencies whether they would prefer to have a public hearing on their spending level.

Committee chair Rep. Karl T. Reyes said government officials have until June 22 to respond to their invitation which is intended to provide them the opportunity to “be heard on how much budget they want.”

Deliberation of the spending package submitted by Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio last April to the Legislature is likely to be less difficult than last year owing to the trickle of requests from departments for additional appropriation.

According to Reyes, at least six departments, including the Public School System, the Northern Marianas College as well as the departments of public health, labor and immigration, public safety and public works, may ask for bigger slice of the budget.

So far, only few independent programs have requested the House committee tasked with overseeing financial affairs of the government for additional funds for the next fiscal year.

The proposed budget has reached $206 million, a decline of only about two percent from the FY 1999 revised spending level of $210 million despite continuous economic harsh conditions on the island.

The Legislature has until September to approve the proposal submitted by the administration on April 1.

Reyes’ committee is tasked with the budget deliberation before it goes to the legislative floor for voting, which under the Constitution must be completed before the current fiscal year ends on September 30.

The representative said they would look into the personnel costs under the budget package and whether departments or agencies have not exceeded their allocation when Tenorio slashed this year’s spending limit by about 13.4 percent.

Earlier, Reyes has warned the FY 2000 budget may dip further to $180 million which could force the government to further cut down personnel costs due to the anticipated reduction in revenues from the local garment industry.

He maintained the administration has yet to fully estimate the decline in the collections from user fees paid out by garment manufacturers who have warned earlier of business slowdown in the next few months due to increasing global competition and the impact of the recent $1 billion lawsuit.