While some members of the House of Representatives believe that less than $100 million would be available for government operations in fiscal year 2012, the House still went ahead and adopted yesterday afternoon a concurrent resolution approving a $102 million budget.<\/p>\n
However, if and when the Fitial administration announces by the July 1 deadline a change in projected revenues, the House will have to recall House Concurrent Resolution 17-3, House Draft 1, said Ways and Means chairman Rep. Ray Basa (Cov-Saipan).<\/p>\n
Basa believes that the revised $102 million is a \u201cslightly optimistic\u201d figure.<\/p>\n
\u201cI believe actual revenue for government operations will be lower than that,\u201d he told Saipan Tribune.<\/p>\n
Basa\u2019s HCR 17-3 passed by a vote of 19-1.<\/p>\n
Rep. Froilan Tenorio (Cov-Saipan), the only one who voted \u201cno\u201d on the concurrent resolution, said the CNMI will be lucky to even have $95 million in actual revenue for government operations in 2012.<\/p>\n
Fiscal year 2012 will be from Oct. 1, 2011, to Sept. 30, 2012.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose projected figures are obsolete. They\u2019re way off mark. They were formulated even before the March 11 Japan disasters. And we\u2019re just talking about projected revenues, not spending. I believe the budget would be less than $100 million, maybe $95 million,\u201d said Tenorio, a former governor and speaker.<\/p>\n
House Speaker Eli Cabrera (R-Saipan) said the 2012 budget bill reflects the governor\u2019s $102 million budget, but even he does not expect this much.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe deadline for the governor to submit the 2012 budget was on April 1, but they worked on the projections way ahead of that,\u201d Cabrera said.<\/p>\n
As of yesterday afternoon, the Fitial administration indicated that \u201cit\u2019s almost impossible to see an upward change,\u201d Cabrera said. If there\u2019s going to be an announcement of change in projected revenues, \u201cit will be a downward\u201d one.<\/p>\n
Press secretary Angel Demapan, when asked for comment yesterday, said: \u201cAt this time, the administration does not have any changes to report.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNonetheless, it will continue to monitor the financial trends of revenues coming in. Should there be an immediate need to make any adjustments even after July 1, the administration can and will communicate any such developments to the Legislature,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Cabrera said the administration may be waiting for the June 30 monthly deadline for filing business gross revenue tax and see whether there\u2019s improvement in collections, before preparing a final report to the Legislature.<\/p>\n
More than a decade ago, the CNMI\u2019s government budget was over $200 million.<\/p>\n
[B]\u2018Hold public hearing\u2019[\/B]<\/p>\n
During discussions on HCR 17-3, minority leader Diego Benavente (R-Saipan) urged his colleagues to consider holding off action on the measure until they hear directly from the administration or the Finance Department whether the projected revenues available for government operations still stand at $102 million.<\/p>\n
Minority members, including Rep. Joseph Deleon Guerrero (R-Saipan) and Rep. Frank Dela Cruz (R-Saipan), questioned the lack of public hearing or meeting with Finance before introducing the resolution.<\/p>\n
Rep. Ray Yumul (R-Saipan), for his part, said the administration figures did not come from thin air.<\/p>\n
\u201cI believe they\u2019re a sound estimate,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Benavente said it is likely that the Senate will hold a public hearing.<\/p>\n
Basa made an oral amendment to his own concurrent resolution, citing \u201coversight\u201d on the part of the Ways and Means Committee. His amendment put the figure \u201c$2,931,329\u201d as projected revenue from the Department of Public Lands instead of the \u201czero\u201d indicated in the original concurrent resolution.<\/p>\n
Under the four-page resolution, the total identified budgetary resource is $120,679,000, based on Gov. Benigno R. Fitial’s budget submission of April 1. But because members adopted an oral amendment on DPL revenue, this figure was changed to over $123 million.<\/p>\n
Of this amount, $102 million is the total local revenue and resources available for appropriation for the CNMI government’s activities in 2012. The rest will go toward other obligations such as bond payments and other earmarks.<\/p>\n
[B]\u2018Payless payday\u2019[\/B]<\/p>\n
As of yesterday afternoon, the Fitial administration does not expect timely payroll for non-critical government employees today.<\/p>\n
The press secretary said as of Wednesday, the Finance Department is projecting timely payroll for critical services and federally funded personnel \u201conly\u201d due to a shortage in cash availability. <\/p>\n
\u201cHowever, Finance continues to actively monitor the government’s daily cash flow. So in the event that there is a significant change reflecting the availability of additional funds, the department will be able to disburse all other remaining payroll checks,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Government employees on Capital Hill said they were hoping that they will get their paychecks today or tomorrow.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf not, then we will have a long Fourth of July weekend without money,\u201d one of them said.<\/p>\n
Since June 2010, the government has been delayed at least 16 times in issuing paychecks to \u201cnon-critical\u201d employees. This week may be the 17th time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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