POKER LICENSE FEE ROW DOF admits oversight

There is no money available to earmark $806,000 for the Saipan Mayor’s office and other local concerns, according to Finance Sec. Lucy DLG. Nielsen yesterday, as she admitted an oversight by her department when it gave the go-signal to legislators to tap revenues from poker license fees.

“If they want to appropriate money from the $2,000 (fee), the money is not there,” she told in an interview.

Saipan lawmakers have voted against recalling an appropriation bill pending before the Office of the Governor, sticking with their resolve that more than $800,000 in revenues sourced from poker license fees are available for delegation matters.

The move is expected to send them into direct clash with the administration, and it is likely the governor would veto the measure.

According to Nielsen, the government is in fact still short of the $1.3 million set aside from poker revenues to match federal construction grants for its capital improvement projects, which included the $806,000 earlier identified by the Saipan and Northern Islands Legislative Delegation.

The collections are not part of the $6,000 fee imposed by the CNMI when it lifted the cap on the number of poker machines allowed to operate on the island last year.

Nielsen claimed the Department of Finance had forewarned the legislative body against allocating the funds for the mayor’s office, land acquisition payment and the Northern Marianas Housing Corporation.

“This is from the same money and we sent our first comment on the bill and the second comment, notifying them it was an oversight on our part. However, the $806,000 has already been appropriated in the CIP bill,” she said.

The DOF chief added the amount has yet to meet the $1.3 million initial appropriation made by the Legislature early this year for the island’s infrastructure requirements.

But the department has projected to collect more than $400,000 within the next two months to raise the amount, but it will still be short of their previous estimate.

While there are over 1,000 machines licensed on Saipan alone, the $2,000 additional fee did not apply to all units because the local law imposing such fee only became effective when most of them have already been set up.

Nielsen believed this may be the cause of misunderstanding between finance officials and lawmakers who have insisted that funds are available for their appropriation.

“That’s where the confusion is,” she explained.

Nielsen said new money will only come in if the licenses are up for renewal even if there was a dramatic increase in the number of poker machines as claimed by legislators.