Govt says it has $4.3M in excess funds

The Babauta administration has a total of $4.3 million in excess funds as of April 30, 2004, belying reports that it would not meet projected revenue in Fiscal Year 2005 as proposed in its $226 million budget appropriation for next fiscal year.

In line with this, Gov. Juan N. Babauta continues to seek the help of all government agencies and departments to help him implement stricter austerity measures so that the government would not exceed the $213.6 million budget for this fiscal year.

Based on the CNMI Overall Fund Status Fiscal Year 2004 report, the government hopes to collect this fiscal year an estimated $218.1 million in taxes—a $4.3 million uptick compared with the $213.6 million collected last fiscal year.

This is based on the ongoing trend in government collections covering October 2003 to April 30, 2004. In that period, the CNMI government has already collected $118.7 million—a 0.8 percent increase from the $118.6 million collected during the same period in fiscal year 2003.

During the same seven-month period, the CNMI government expended $122.7 million in total operating resources—a 0.4 percent decrease from the $123.3 million spent during the same period.

The report further disclosed that, as of April 30, 2004, eight departments under the Executive Branch have positive fund balances that reached $4.32 million.

The report says the Department of Community and Cultural Affairs has a positive fund balance of $367,514; Department of Labor, $270,171; Department of Lands and Natural Resources, $310,475; Department of Commerce, $152,818; Department of Finance, $514,861; Department of Public Works, $736,756; the Governor’s Office, $347,565; the Attorney General’s Office, $409,195; and other sources amounting to $1.2 million.

According to the governor, the balances will possibly be used to cover the shortfalls incurred by other agencies, including the Department of Public Safety, Department of Public Health and utilities.

The report added that as of April 30, 2004, the CNMI government had expended $126.8 million but the budget allocated was only $124.6 million. The government has incurred $2.18 million shortfall.

Other revenue sources listed by the government for the FY2004 are the Compact Impact payments amounting to $5.1 million, Tobacco Control Fund Reprogramming amounting to $1.8 million, and Tobacco Settlement Fund Reprogramming, amounting to $1.2 million.