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Legislature to ‘open’ budget process
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Posted on Apr 13 2005
The Legislature intends to hold public hearings when it tackles the proposed budget for fiscal year 2006.
Sen. Joseph M. Mendiola, chair of the Senate Committee on Fiscal Affairs, said that opening the process to the public would be best to ensure a realistic and workable budget.
At the same time, Mendiola said he and his counterpart, House Ways and Means Committee chair Norman S. Palacios, are determined to do their best to come up with a new budget.
“We should do this early. Some say that no budget is ever passed during an election. Well, I say that election is not an excuse not to pass a budget,” he said.
He said that if they need to sacrifice their private time to pass the budget, they would do it. “If we have to stay in a room, lock ourselves up for 30 days to pass the budget, we’d do that.”
Mendiola said the Legislature would also hold separate budget hearings on Rota, Tinian, and Saipan, to allow municipal governments, councils, and agencies to air their budget concerns.
The Legislature finished its budget deliberation for FY 2005 in December last year—three months behind the beginning of the new fiscal year.
The Legislature receives the annual proposed budget from the administration on or before April 1 every year. A revised budget is usually submitted by July.
The Legislature had approved a $217-million budget last year for FY 2005 but this was eventually disapproved by the governor in January.
Mendiola said the first joint budget hearing will be held on April 26. It will be attended by administration officials, primarily from the Department of Finance and Office of Budget Management.
The Babauta administration has submitted a $225.8-million proposed budget for FY 2006. It said $206 million can be generated from existing resources, while some $19 million would be raised by redirecting funds from the Tobacco Settlement Fund, Tobacco Control Fund, and increasing the poker licensure fee. The administration proposes to increase the poker license fee by $6,000 per machine.
