Lawmaker explains budget cuts for Rota
A Rota lawmaker who authored the CNMI government’s 2007 budget is appealing to his critics to understand the island’s reduced funding.
Rep. Crispin M. Ogo wrote an open letter to the Rota people to explain how the Legislature arrived at this fiscal year’s budget, which reduced Rota’s allocation by 18 percent.
As chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, Ogo led budget deliberations in the House of Representatives. His counterpart in the Upper House, Senate Fiscal Affairs Committee chairman Felix Mendiola, also hails from Rota.
Ogo explained that the 18-percent cut was necessary because of the entire Commonwealth’s declining revenues. He added that applied not only to Rota, but to the two other senatorial districts and most government agencies as well.
“I understand that it may be hard to comprehend the current economic status of the CNMI government, but we must accept reality and live within our means. The fiscal impact of the reduced revenue collections cannot maintain the previous expenditure of $13,550,000 for our municipality. I understand the critics and their concerns regarding the 2007 budget, but the critics must understand and correlate their criticism with data and what it means to have a realistic and responsible budget,” Ogo said.
“If Senator Felix Mendiola and I could have muscled the majority members of the 15th CNMI Legislature to agree that Rota maintains its $13,550,000 budget while Tinian, Saipan and Northern Islands’ budgets are reduced by [18 percent], then it would be an historical occurrence in the budget history of the CNMI. This view is unquestionably unrealistic,” he added.
Further, Ogo highlighted the benefits in the budget for Rota. He cited provisions that pay out the court’s $305,000 award to former Rota municipal employees, require the Department of Public Health to allocate funding for the Rota dialysis startup operation, and offer Rota medical referral patients to Saipan the privileges accorded to patients treated outside the CNMI.
