Adriano: Keep FY06 budget at $215M

Senate President Joaquin G. Adriano called on the House of Representatives to keep the 2003 budget level of $215 million for fiscal year 2006—not $206 million as earlier proposed.

“I dispute the House version of $206 million. We can’t run the government with such a dramatic drop. If you do that, you’d see layoffs of personnel and severe budget cuts across the board,” said Adriano in an interview yesterday.

He further said that adopting a $206 million budget would only net some $190 million as actual budget in view of the automatic deduction of 2 percent to reduce the budget deficit and 1 percent for the Office of Public Auditor. These annual deductions, which are mandated by law, explain why the continuing resolution only allows $213 million for the government.

The House earlier said that it would introduce a $206 million budget for FY 2006 following the Babauta administration’s certification that the government would only collect $206 million next fiscal year.

The decline in revenue estimate is due to the projected downturn in revenues from the garment industry, which is currently downsizing in view of the global lifting of trade quotas this year.

Adriano said, though, that the House could look into the proposed use of Tobacco funds for general appropriations. He said he doubts if poker operators could shoulder an increase of $6,000 in licensure fees as proposed by the administration.

“I don’t think they can afford it because some of them are shutting down already,” he said.

Meantime, Adriano said that he has instructed the Senate Committee on Fiscal Affairs to work with the House Ways and Means Committee closely in coming up with a new FY 2006 budget.

Adriano said the Senate leadership favors doing the FY 2006 budget now more than the wage hike bill due to limited time before the end of the current fiscal year on Sept. 30.

“I favor having the budget first then the wage proposal after it,” said the senator.

He said he has sent a letter to House Speaker Benigno R. Fitial expressing the Senate’s desire to pass a new budget immediately.

Earlier, Senate Fiscal Affairs Committee chair Joseph Mendiola scored his House counterpart’s “misplaced priority” in holding a public hearing on the minimum wage hike bill rather than on the FY 2006 budget.

The House conducted a hearing on House Bill 14-30, the wage increase bill, last week on Tinian. It is set to hold another hearing on the bill on Saipan today.

House Bill 14-30, authored by Rep. Heinz S. Hofschneider, seeks to raise the minimum wage from $3.05 per hour to $5, among others.