{"id":425727,"date":"2024-11-04T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-11-04T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=425727"},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-29T14:00:00","slug":"CPA-needs-15M-for-operations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/CPA-needs-15M-for-operations\/","title":{"rendered":"CPA needs $15M for operations"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Commonwealth Ports Authority needs over $15 million for maintenance and operations for fiscal year 2025.<\/p>\n

CPA and Ricondo and Associates Inc. has released the fiscal year 2025 budget for CPA and according to the budget, $15,009,075 is needed for maintenance and operation of CNMI\u2019s airports.<\/p>\n

Ricondo and Associates Inc. is a consultant of CPA and recommends its budget and rates.<\/p>\n

The budget was approved by the CPA board during a regular board meeting back last September.<\/p>\n

CPA\u2019s budget comes from fees collected from airline partners who use any of the CNMI airport facilities.<\/p>\n

According to documents acquired by Saipan Tribune<\/em>, CPA says it needs $4.89 million alone for salaries and wages.<\/p>\n

Of the reported $15 million budget need, over $2.9 million will go toward utilities while another $2.9 million will go toward insurance.<\/p>\n

In addition, CPA says over is $1.3 million is needed to pay contractual services while $870,000 is needed to pay for employee benefits.<\/p>\n

CPA has also detailed in its budget that over $817,000 is needed for supplies and materials, $558,000 is needed for repairs and maintenance, and $227,400 will go toward fuel.<\/p>\n

CPA has also allotted over $89,000 for travel expenses, while $80,000 has been obligated for legal services among other allocations.<\/p>\n

Last fiscal year, due to the budget, CPA implemented a 90% increase in landing fees.<\/p>\n

CPA has yet to formally share the new rates that were adopted during the Sept. 27, 2024 board meeting.<\/p>\n

In addition, the CPA board also adopted a 79% increase in its terminal rental rate for both the Francisco C. Ada\/Saipan International Airport\u2019s main terminal and for the commuter terminals for Saipan, Tinian, and Rota.<\/p>\n

Last fiscal year, CPA terminal rental rates for the Saipan International Airport\u2019s main terminal went up from $19.49 per square foot to $34.92. Meanwhile, the terminal rental rates for all CNMI commuter terminals went up from $7.79 to $13.97.<\/p>\n

As for landing fees, with the 90% increase, CPA charged international airline carriers $15.25 per thousand pounds of certified maximum gross landing weight of the aircraft; they were previously being charged $8.01.<\/p>\n

As for CNMI commuter terminals, the 90%-increase brought landing fees up from $4.81 to $9.15.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The Francisco C. Ada\/Saipan International Airport\u2019s terminal<\/p>\n

-KIMBERLY B. ESMORES
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Commonwealth Ports Authority needs over $15 million for maintenance and operations for fiscal year…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-425727","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425727","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\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=425727"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425727\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=425727"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=425727"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=425727"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}