Admin comes to NMC’s rescue

The Northern Marianas College has received over $600,000 in new funding as authorized by the CNMI Legislature and the Governor’s Office.

Acting Governor Diego T. Benavente approved Friday the reprogramming of $438,251 to cover the payroll needs of NMC personnel up to September this year.

At the same time, Gov. Juan N. Babauta approved the release of $228,383 to fund NMC’s operations of its newly acquired facility, the La Fiesta complex in San Roque.

Acting NMC president Antonio V. Deleon Guerrero disclosed the availability of these funds in a media briefing yesterday afternoon.

“We’ve discussed our situation with the Legislature and the Governor’s Office and they have been willing to come to our aid. So we’re in a lot better position now. We’d be able to make it to the end of the current fiscal year without shutting down any programs,” he said.

This, he said, would be the message that he and NMC board chair Kimberlyn King-Hinds would be reporting to the Western Association of Schools and Colleges during a meeting this week.

Guerrero and King-Hinds will be leaving today for California to meet with WASC commissioners on NMC’s compliance with accreditation requirements.

The college is currently on WASC’s warning status due to its failure to submit annual audit reports on time in the last few years.

Meantime, in a letter to Deleon Guerrero, Benavente said that, as authorized by House Joint resolution 14-18, the $438,251 would come from the unobligated Tobacco Control Fund.

He said the Office of Management and Budget will make necessary adjustments to ensure that NMC gets the additional funding.

He said the money will be disbursed on a biweekly basis per payroll schedule.

Benavente also said that the OMB will also make the necessary reprogramming of $228,383 for La Fiesta.

This will be disbursed to NMC in two installments: $100,000, which will be paid immediately to cover the March, April, and May 2004’s operational expenses for La Fiesta.

The second installment will take place on July 15 to cover for the remaining months up to Sept. 30, 2004.

The NMC earlier projected to incur a budget shortfall of at least $250,000 by end of the fiscal year.

The college earlier received some $150,000 from the Governor’s Office to cover for the December 2003, January and February 2004 expenses at La Fiesta.

Due to lack of budget, the NMC board last month decided to put on hold its Pacific Gateway program and to temporarily shut down its operations of La Fiesta.

This, however, still allows La Fiesta tenants to continue to operate in the complex.

NMC said that, of the 24 original tenants, 17 remain in the complex. Most of their contracts expire by the end of December this year.