On why Saipan casino revenue projections came so late in the fiscal year and near budget deliberations for next year, Department of Finance Secretary Larissa Larson says these revenues are \u201cseparate from the budget\u201d and are a \u201cspecial source of funding.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cSo it\u2019s different. It\u2019s not something where they have to follow the budget schedule,\u201d Larson said, responding to questions from Saipan Tribune on Friday.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are issues we have with disclosure,\u201d she added. \u201cWe have to have the right to disclose the information because all tax information is protected. So until we have that we can\u2019t reveal it, even if the law says that money is available.<\/p>\n
Some House of Representatives lawmakers have criticized the Finance Department for coming slow with these figures but Larson indicated that revealing the figures at this time was appropriate or \u201cworthwhile.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSo we got the disclosure. Then the payments started increasing recently, so it\u2019s worthwhile to do the appropriations now\u2014that\u2019s why what\u2019s prompting all of this,\u201d she said after a budget hearing with the House of Representatives on Friday.<\/p>\n
As for fiscal year 2017 projections, Larson said \u201cwe haven\u2019t got that far.\u201d \u201c\u2026This is a new industry for the CNMI, we don\u2019t have any trends to look at. We kind of have to see what\u2019s coming. We are working on projections with the [Commonwealth] Casino Commission but we don\u2019t have them yet. We are working with what we have now because it\u2019s a sizeable amount of money now we can use.\u201d<\/p>\n
The CNMI has received $30 million in casino revenue taxes from the Saipan casino, Best Sunshine International, Ltd., as of July 30, according to Larson on Friday.<\/p>\n
As for the reported $47 million in casino taxes for this fiscal year, Larson emphasized this was \u201ca projection\u201d and \u201cnot actual.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are projecting in the next couple of months we will collect a full $47 [million],\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
During the hearing Friday, Larson also spoke to recent proposed bills to add new government agencies eligible for Saipan casino tax funds under the casino law, or \u201camendments\u201d to casino law \u201cwhere the BRGT can be applied.\u201d Some new bills have proposed making the departments of Fire and Public Safety eligible, for example.<\/p>\n
Larson said during the hearing that they need to think about retirees and look into the possibility of setting aside portion of BGRT in case of any disruption to retiree benefits.<\/p>\n
House vice speaker Joseph Deleon Guerrero (Ind-Saipan) has introduced a bill to essentially set aside $5 million of the casino BGRT to cover the \u201cshortfall\u201d in funds to retirees in the fifth year of casino. The CNMI government took the first and fifth year casino license application fees upfront, leaving a gaping hole in the fifth year. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe just need to anticipate and set some money aside so we don\u2019t disrupt our retirees\u2019 payments,\u201d Larson reiterated in the interview. \u201cThe 75 percent [pension] is already covered by the [government] appropriation but the 25 percent is the one that is depending on the funding availability. So we just have to think ahead, so we don\u2019t struggle at the last second to come up with something.\u201d<\/p>\n
Finance asks for $4.8M<\/strong><\/p>\n Larson says they are requesting $4.8 million for their department\u2019s budget, in line with Gov. Ralph DLG Torres\u2019 original proposal.<\/p>\n Finance has plans to hire a lawyer specializing in taxes and to bolster their enforcement section with more officers.<\/p>\n \u201cWe actually have a legal counsel coming on board. He\u2019s very experienced. He has a tax degree as well as a law degree. Something really critical to not only Finance but the CNMI, as we come across tax issues,\u201d Larson said. \u201cIt\u2019s good to have someone with the experience, the specialized expertise to answer questions.\u201d<\/p>\n Larson also added they are \u201calways beefing up\u201d enforcement.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s something that hasn\u2019t really been done for a long time, so step by step we are working toward a really strong enforcement unit,\u201d Larson said. \u201cNot only on the enforcement on cash receipts and business licenses but also the actual filing of taxes and so on, to make sure people are filing properly.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" On why Saipan casino revenue projections came so late in the fiscal year and near…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[900],"tags":[7019,20,927,26],"class_list":["post-234266","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-featured","tag-bgrt","tag-budget","tag-casino-commission","tag-cnmi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234266","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/47"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=234266"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234266\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=234266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=234266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=234266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}