House may pass FY 2001 budget this week

The House of Representatives is likely to pass the FY 2001 budget by this week to give the Senate one month to review the proposal before the new fiscal year begins on October 1, according to Speaker Benigno R. Fitial.

The Ways and Means Committee, chaired by Rep. Antonio M. Camacho, is expected to report to the floor the package which the panel has drawn up after months of deliberation and discussion with various government agencies and departments.

“We hope to have the new budget before the end of the current fiscal year,” Mr. Fitial said.

The House’s budget proposal will not veer away much from what Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio submitted in April despite appeals from major agencies for more money, according to a committee member.

During its session yesterday, the lower house approved the resources identified by the governor as the government’s total spending level for the next fiscal year which amounted to over $221.66 million.

Nearly 98 percent of the total cash resources equivalent to about $214.91 million will come from internal revenues, while $2.35 million will be generated from the nonresident workers’ fees and $4.4 million from public land leases.

From this amount, $217.25 million will be used to operate the government and pay salary of close to 5,000 public sector employees. This is higher by one million dollars from the original spending package.

The hike, which he has earmarked for a higher spending limit to the legislative and judicial branches for FY 2001, followed reduction in the initial appropriation for repayment of the anticipated $60 million bond by the government.

The bond repayment was chopped off from $5.6 million to $4.6 million after the bond flotation being undertaken by the Commonwealth Development Authority suffered delays.

While the agency has undertaken steps to proceed with the plan, the governor has said the bond issue will occur later than originally anticipated — giving the CNMI grace period before it start repaying the loan.

Mr. Tenorio has proposed reallocation of the $1 million to the Legislature and the judiciary as well as to Rota and Tinian municipalities and various government agencies.

Under the revised FY 2001 budget, lawmakers received additional half million dollars to boost its spending level to $7.95 million, while the courts got about $150,000 to swell its resources to $5.1 million.

The Public School System, and the Departments of Public Health and Public Safety remain the biggest recipient of local resources. Together, they eat up 42 percent of the total cash resources equivalent to $93 million.