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Inos ‘updates’ governor on money owed
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Posted on Feb 02 2005
Commissioner of Education Rita H. Inos reminded Gov. Juan N. Babauta on Tuesday of the money owed the Public School System, outlining one by one the payroll and operational funds that the government has yet to remit to PSS.
For previous payrolls, she noted that the Department of Finance still owes PSS $54,000. Inos also reminded the chief executive that DoF owes the agency $877,000 in 2004 operational funds. She also said that, for the first quarter, the DoF needs to remit $273,000 for PSS’ operational funds.
In all, that adds up to a total of $1.2 million in unpaid and “all others” accounts the PSS is expecting from the government, according to Inos.
She said the delays are causing a “negative impact” on the operations of PSS, which trickles down to the day-to-day operations of public schools throughout the CNMI.
Inos also said that cash flow delays have aggravated the standing of PSS vis-à-vis their vendors, who are expecting payment for the services they rendered since last year.
The commissioner said that one creative solution to the funding problem is the use of Compact Impact funding, but if the DoF already received the funding then the money should have been forwarded to PSS at this point in time.
Inos said she was amazed to read reports that Department of Finance Secretary Fermin Atalig has already remitted $2.8 million to PSS for the arrears it incurred for 2004, when, in reality, there was no money transferred to PSS last Monday.
She also said that the $2.8 million was paid on staggered basis for the last 30 days and only paid the payroll; the operations funds for 2004 and the first quarter of 2005 were not considered, she added. (Marconi Calindas)
