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Lawmakers to look for more funds for MVA
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Posted on Mar 29 2005
Senate and House of Representative members will meet this morning to find ways to provide the Marianas Visitors Authority with $2 million in additional funding this fiscal year.
“We acknowledge the need for more funding because it’s very crucial to our economy, given the situation that we are in,” said Rep. Ray Tebuteb.
He said giving appropriate funding to MVA to attract more tourists could save the economy amid the projected decline in revenues from the garment industry this year.
Tebuteb, who attended yesterday’s tourism summit held at the Aqua Resort Club, cited that the $2.6 million supplemental appropriation that was approved by the previous Legislature proved to be a wise move.
“The investment made by the 13th Legislature realized growth. It was more than worth it,” he said, citing MVA’s reports that despite the Iraq war, the SARS epidemic, and other external factors that affected travel and tourism, the CNMI has remained competitive.
The CNMI received more than half a million tourists last fiscal year.
“I favor additional funding. Tourism is a good area to invest our money in,” said Tebuteb.
He said some members of the House of Representatives and senators are scheduled to sit down this morning to discuss the MVA funding request. He said this was the initial agreement among the lawmakers who attended yesterday’s summit.
Among those who showed up at the summit were Rota senators Paul Manglona, Paterno Hocog, and Diego Songao.
House leadership spokesman Charles Reyes, who was also at the summit, said that finding extra money would be a challenge.
“The CNMI government right now is in a precarious financial situation. There’s a whole host of outstanding liabilities so it’s very difficult to allocate scarce resources,” he said, while indicating that the leadership will always be ready to help improve the ailing economy.
Under the $213 million continuing resolution, MVA receives $5 million per fiscal year.
