Torres: Financial austerity measures no longer in effect

Gov. Ralph DLG Torres yesterday officially announced the suspension of financial austerity measures effected through the Personnel Service System Rules and Regulations (PSSR&R) for the first time since 2001.

In January 1999, the Civil Service Commission promulgated an amendment to the PSSR&R for financial austerity measures that became Part 12 of the government personnel regulations. Part 12 effectively suspended all increases in employees’ salaries due to permanent or temporary promotions, acting or detail assignments, reallocation or reclassification of positions, and step increases based on professional development. The notice of implementation of these austerity measures was published in November 2001 and took effect immediately thereafter. “Since the implementation of these austerity measures, government employees have suffered suspended wages even when they qualified for a merit-based increase. Over the last several years, we have made great strides in stabilizing our government revenues to improve public services and increase public efficacy. It is only fitting that we now have the ability to fund increases for hard working and qualified civil service employees. Our improved financial condition as a government has a lot to do with how we’ve been able to pay down our longstanding obligations dating back to previous administrations and strengthening our private sector to improve our overall economy. We now have a system in place to effectively plan for increases for qualified employees on a merit-based standard,” Torres said.

Office of Personnel Management director Sid Seman stated that for almost 19 years, government employees were not able to have upward mobility in their work because of the austerity measure implementation.

“The lifting of the austerity measures is a welcome-relief for many hardworking government employees who sacrificed job progression, both in positions and compensations, since 2001. To be able to pay our employees what they rightfully deserve is made possible because of our improving economy and the decisions of this administration. I thank governor Torres and the Legislature for their continual commitment to our government employees,” Seman said.

According to the February 2000 Economic Report of the CNMI by the Government Accountability Office, the garment and tourism industries played a dominant role in the economy. But the government initiated austerity measures in 2001 in an attempt to deal with the decline in government revenues resulting from the downturn in tourism.

“These measures have reduced government expenditures by about $52 million. In addition, over 1,000 government positions have been eliminated through attrition and by leaving vacant positions unfilled, and some government offices have implemented a reduction in work hours,” the GAO report stated.

The Notice of Expiry of Financial Austerity Measures has been forwarded to the Commonwealth Register and upon expiration, employees who qualify for increases during the time of suspension shall receive pay increases but shall not be made retroactive to any date that occurred during the time of suspension.

The notice shall be implemented 30 days after its publication in the Commonwealth Register, which has been received by the Civil Service Commission and the Office of the Attorney General. (PR)