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Lump sum budget eyed for Governor’s Office
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Posted on Sep 09 2008
Gov. Benigno R. Fitial will be free to decide how much money will go to each agency under his wing if the Legislature adopts a proposal to grant a lump-sum appropriation for the Executive Branch.
The House Ways and Means Committee, according to chair Victor Hocog, is studying whether to draft an appropriation bill that specifies only the funding level for the Public School System, Northern Marianas College, the Judiciary and the Legislature, while allowing the governor to allocate the budget of the Executive Branch.
With the government’s meager resources, Hocog said, “the governor may be the best to determine how the money should be distributed to the departments and agencies.”
The House of Representatives is expected to act today on a House concurrent resolution setting the government’s spending limit for the 2009 fiscal year at $156.7 million. This represents a decrease of over $6 million from the current budget level.
In addition to the lump-sum appropriation for the central government, the committee is discussing whether to adopt cost-cutting measures such as the biweekly government shutdown—also known as “austerity Fridays”—and the no-work-no-pay policy during government holidays except Christmas Day and New Year’s Day.
Hocog said his committee will work on the appropriation bill as soon as the resource level has been finalized. He expressed hope that the bill would be ready for introduction on the House floor next week.
