‘96 Tinian employees to be notified by Oct. 1 about non-renewal of contracts’

If the Senate passes the House of Representatives’ version of the fiscal year 2024 budget, Tinian and Aguiguan Mayor Edwin P. Aldan will be informing all 96 employees of the Tinian municipality by Oct. 1 that their employment contracts will not be renewed.

“However, it is also the responsibility of the Legislature to explain to the people of Tinian why their positions were cut when all other positions in the CNMI were maintained,” said Aldan Thursday before the Senate Fiscal Affairs Committee’s hearing on the fiscal year 2024 budget at the Kotten Tinian.

In preparation for Oct. 1—which is the the beginning of the new fiscal year—Aldan said his staff has already drafted notices of non-renewal in case this “unfortunate event” occurs.

“It is disheartening to note that our municipality seems to be the only one affected by such a significant reduction of employees,” he said.

Aldan said this discrepancy raises questions about the fairness and the rationale behind this decision.

At the start of the budget hearing, Fiscal Affairs Committee chair Sen. Donald M. Manglona (Ind-Rota) said the Municipality of Tinian and Aguiguan is requesting a budget of $10,754,440, to include 283 full time employees (FTEs).

Of the amount the municipality is asking for, $8 million or 75% is allocated for personnel, $2 million or 19% is for operations and $712,000 is for utilities.

Last week, the House passed their version of the budget, which essentially provided $688,00 in additional funding for the mayor’s personnel, but reduced funding for Sports and Recreation, Labor, Commerce, police, fire, agriculture, and Parks and Recreation.

Aldan said the House’s version for the Tinian Mayors’ Office budget proposed only 28 FTEs, reducing the reducing the number of FTEs by 96 from the original 124.

Aldan said during the House Ways and Means budget hearing last month, he explained the important role of their office for the municipality of Tinian.

He said the Tinian Mayor’s Office has always been given 124 FTEs to sustain the operations and services extended to the community.

He said if the Legislature is unable to reinstate the 124 FTEs, which is the initial number of employees originally budgeted for their office, the Tinian municipality will essentially grind to a halt as they are not only overseeing all the state departments on Tinian but they also coordinate with autonomous agencies relating to municipal matters.

Aldan said that during the House budget hearing, the committee focused on the $3-million American Rescue Plan Act funds the municipality has received and numerous revolving accounts that could possibly be identified as an additional funding source to assist in sustaining personnel and operations at the mayor’s office.

Unfortunately, he said, the current funding level available from the $3 million lessens with every single day that passes, given that they lack operating funds under the revised 2023 budget for Tinian.

In essence, the mayor said, there is no other funding source available to continue the employment of 124 FTEs that the Tinian Mayor’s Office lacks in the proposed budget.

He reiterated that in his over 20 years in politics, he has never seen a budget proposal that exclude or significantly reduces a mayor’s office from the share of the general fund.

Aldan said not only is this budget unbalanced and unfair, but Tinian’s people will not be given the same level of public service as the rest of the CNMI.

“It is not just about the numbers that we are discussing here today. It is people’s basic livelihood that has been eliminated, simply because of political pushback,” he said.

The mayor added that he made it very clear since the beginning of this budget process that the ramification of this cut will be felt by many families and individuals in this community.

Aldan is hoping that the Senate Fiscal Affairs Committee will address their concerns by reinstating all the 124 FTEs.