Eyeing an agenda of gradual economic growth, Gov. Ralph DLG Torres said yesterday the administration is looking at gathering statistics for the peak number of hotels to accommodate future development and halt other development whose impact may be questionable, as the Commonwealth also looks to grapple with the ill-effects of the continuing contract worker shortage due to permit delays amidst new economic development in play.<\/p>\n
Torres told reporters he would be heading to Washington, D.C.\u2014for meetings with the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs\u2014bringing with the data on the \u201cripple effect\u201d and dollar figures of the recent delay of about 2,800 contract worker permit renewals.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just experienced the disaster of Soudelor\u2026and now we are hit with an additional labor issues,\u201d said Torres. \u201cWe are getting hit in both ways\u2014closure\u201d of businesses and \u201cpreventing us from growth. <\/p>\n
\u201cHow important our contract workers are,\u201d and \u201chow important that they are to infrastructure, housholds, and farmers\u201d are some of points of his message he will stress with federal counterparts.<\/p>\n
Torres also met with Honest Profit Group\u2014a hotel investor\u2014yesterday. Torres said they requested an additional 15-year lease on top of the 25 years on their current lease they already have but that the administration was still reviewing with the Attorney General\u2019s Office on this request.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe good thing is\u2014if we have an additional 15 years\u2014it gives the company the tool to get additional funding or stronger business partners knowing that their lease is 40 years,\u201d Torres said. \u201cThe downfall of it is if the company doesn\u2019t go through\u2026and that\u2019s where it\u2019s important to foresee the things that we have experienced in the past [with other stalled investors] moving forward.\u201d<\/p>\n
Torres noted a current government moratorium on ATV vehicles operator applications, as impact of the current over 10 operators on island has raised questions about the ability of island\u2019s roads to handle the activity.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we have 20 ATV companies, do you think it\u2019s good for the CNMI?\u201d Torres said. \u201cInstead of approving everything, we got to look at the\u201d economic, social and environmental impact. \u201cWe want the right investment and the timing of those investments\u2014those are things right now that are critical for us to look into,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Saipan Chamber of Commerce president Alex Sablan said controlled and planned development is what they\u2019ve been asking from the government. He described this as the idea of looking at development in terms of backtracking and fitting out where the CNMI is in terms of its worker pool and determining how many rooms the CNMI can open up with that worker pool; getting contractors to move into the project-oriented H-visas, and getting professional level CWs into other visas to see what the real CW needs are, for example.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are asking for a focused group in government to take a look at what the impact of growing up to 4,000 rooms with one developer\u2014Best Sunshine Ltd.\u2014and the advent of adding another couple thousand with other proposals on Saipan,\u201d he said. \u201cWe are going to probably need somewhere close to 10, to 12, to 15 thousand workers. \u201c Realistically, these numbers would not come from the U.S mainland or Micronesia, but typically, Asian countries where workers are readily available and \u201cwilling to come because of better wages.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to have the government focus in on planned development and structured and controlled development because this is going to get out of hand,\u201d he said. \u201c\u2026Investors here going to basically up and leave because they aren\u2019t able to get workers.<\/p>\n
Sablan urged that federal and local government agencies form a working group to address the issue, and urged contractors to move to the H-visa program versus the contract worker program as there are no caps to these worker levels.<\/p>\n
Since H-visas are set for specific projects, specific timelines, Sablan said, \u201conce that\u2019s done, they are out, and we move on to the next project. And that\u2019s just going to be the fact of life of the situation here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sablan estimates the impact of the shortage of CW workers \u201cin the millions\u201d of dollars in productivity.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a huge impact to our economy and this should have never happened. It\u2019s unfortunate. We saw this coming and we called people\u2019s offices and we talked to them about this and didn\u2019t see to the light of day,\u201d he said. \u201cIt could have been headed off earlier but it wasn\u2019t and it\u2019s unfortunate.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bait and switch<\/strong><\/p>\n Concerned citizen Glen Hunter told Saipan Tribune that it seemed odd that the same officials that \u201crammed a $7-billion casino development down our throats just months ago\u201d would now subscribe to a limited slow and steady growth plan. \u201cThere was nothing slow or gradual about that whole process,\u201d he said. \u201cIt seems that immediate, fast and improperly planned development was behind the push to get an exclusive casino license handed to a specific bidder.\u201d <\/p>\n He said that now that they have secured that license an alteration to what was promised to what was presented, which appears to be a \u201cclear case of bait and switch.<\/p>\n \u201cThe voice of the people was overturned with a promise of a casino being included in a $7-billion integrated resort. That promise was the bait that pushed out anything competitive bidders and granted them a sole license. The switch has been altering that to a casino in a mall and now a casino in a mid-sized hotel. The switch had also been the amendment to allow for the ability to place casino tables and machines in any of the casino license holder\u2019s facilities, apartments, stores, motels, hotels, etc. Potentially leading to a casino gambling sprawl across all of Saipan,\u201d Hunter said in an email.<\/p>\n \u201cThe only thing slow about this whole process has been transparency,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Hunter believes that the administration allowed for a new industry, which will undoubtedly have negative impacts to our environment, culture, infrastructure, and all way of life \u201cbut failed to properly tax it to offset those new costs.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThere is nothing slow about the rise we are witnessing in the housing market and basic commodities,\u201d he said. \u201cAs for the workforce there is nothing slow about a request for thousands of new CW permits. It is no doubt that USCIS had stalled renewals. For the past few years a trend toward reducing CWs had been demanded by law. Yet just this year the new industry has placed new applications and is lobbying for expanding the cap that should be reduced.\u201d<\/p>\n Hunter said if the administration wants to control development and mitigate impacts \u201cthey need only to properly tax the new industry.\u201d \u201cThe casino is the only one operating free of gross gaming revenue taxes, casino table play taxes, all machine taxes, and casino winning taxes. It is also the only casino that does not adequately reveal revenue figures and breakdowns. It also runs entirely on a cash basis and in-house credit system. These all sets up a perfect environment for improperly regulated transactions.<\/p>\n \u201cIf this administration wants steady, gradual economic growth, they need only to properly tax the new casino industry and properly regulate it. If not the burden will inevitably fall on us tax payers. We are already feeling the impacts at the stores and in rental properties. Talks of floating a pension obligation bond would also further strain us taxpayers,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Given a chance to clarify the need for casino taxes, Commonwealth Casino Commission executive director Edward C. Deleon Guerrero said, \u201cthe misguided belief by Hunter that this industry does not pay business tax is a fallacy and simply incorrect.\u201d <\/p>\n Guerroro said the casino licensee is required to pay Business Gross Revenue Tax (BGRT) on their Gross Gaming Revenue (GGR: win minus payout). \u201cCurrently, they are paying 5 percent of their GGRs that are quite substantial. In addition to the BGRT, they are required to pay $15 million every year for a total of 40 years for their exclusive license fee. Further, they are also required, per the Casino License Agreement, that they pay $20 million a year into a special Community Chest Fund, 60 days after ground breaking of Phase I, for all remaining years of their license. \u201c<\/p>\n \u201cThe Casino Licensee\u2019s contribution into the CNMI economy from the payment of BGRT, Exclusive License Fee, EGM\u2019s Jack Pot Tax, employment of close to 700 employees (mostly U.S. citizens), purchase of goods and services from the local vendors, and other community contributions and donations are huge and quite substantial,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Guerrero said they also are required to pay for the Infrastructure Impact Fee (Developer\u2019s Tax) and other environmental and regulatory fees. This includes the $3 million Commonwealth Casino Regulatory Fee (CCRF) fund. <\/p>\n \u201cThe CNMI taxpayers are not burdened with the costs of regulating the industry. This cost is transferred to the industry,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Eyeing an agenda of gradual economic growth, Gov. 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