With the CNMI government struggling to raise revenues, Senate minority leader Pete Reyes said the Babauta administration\u2019s proposed $226-million budget for fiscal year 2005 is good as dead.<\/p>\n
Reyes said the proposed budget is unrealistic and was based on an exaggerated revenue estimate.<\/p>\n
Senate President Joaquin Adriano, however, holds the opposite view, vowing to support the proposed budget laid out by the administration.<\/p>\n
Saying the passage of the bill is the Senate\u2019s top priority, Adriano foresees enhanced revenue collection and an improved economy for the next fiscal year, with the anticipated influx of Chinese tourists on the islands.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe should go on that revenue projection [of $226 million],\u201d Adriano said. \u201cWe do have a realistic budget for fiscal year 2005.\u201d<\/p>\n
Reyes lambasted the administration\u2019s performance in maintaining its fiscal affairs, saying it has failed to meet several financial obligations in a timely manner.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s [$226 million] a dead budget. That\u2019s unrealistic,\u201d Reyes said. \u201cAll you have to do is look at what\u2019s happening.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s easy to say that the collection is good. It\u2019s another thing to prove it,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
There were reports that the CNMI\u2019s debt to public and private vendors has risen to over $100 million in the current fiscal year, including the over $75 million in outstanding employer\u2019s contributions to the Northern Mariana Islands Retirement.<\/p>\n
Reportedly, the debt includes some $5.3 million in remaining balance owed the Commonwealth Health Center, over $16 million in unpaid utility bills to the Commonwealth Utility Corp., and over $4 million for goods and services from private vendors.<\/p>\n
According to the Department of Finance, the CNMI government collected only $107.3 million in the first seven months of fiscal year 2004, which is way below the $213 million projected by the department for the entire fiscal year.<\/p>\n
Reyes said he has been receiving numerous complaints from the public who have yet to receive rebate and refund payments from tax year 2002.<\/p>\n
Early last week, the U.S. Postal Service\u2019s postmaster on Saipan, George Diaz, said no rebate check had been sent out in the mail for the previous three to four weeks. Calls made by the Saipan Tribune to the Department of Finance\u2019s Revenue and Taxation have yet to be returned.<\/p>\n
Based on the administration\u2019s recent declaration to the media, the government has been hoping to complete the release of 2002 rebates this month. A total of $20 million in rebates were filed for 2002, with at least $14 million already paid out. The government has been eyeing the fiscal year\u2019s third quarter tax collection as source of funds to pay the remaining balance.<\/p>\n
Adriano, who was acting governor sometime last week, conceded that revenue collection has been below average. He, however, appealed for patience among taxpayers, assuring that the administration would exhaust means to satisfy its obligations.<\/p>\n
\u201c[The] economy is so slow. Everybody is impacted by the Iraq war,\u201d Adriano said.<\/p>\n
He expressed optimism, though, that the CNMI\u2019s economy is headed toward a strong recovery, noting improvements in its premier industry\u2014tourism. Adriano added that the expected influx of Chinese tourists would help boost the CNMI\u2019s tourism and economy and solve the government\u2019s financial problems once the Commonwealth receives Approved Destination Status from the People\u2019s Republic of China.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
With the CNMI government struggling to raise revenues, Senate minority leader Pete Reyes said the Babauta administration\u2019s proposed $226-million budget for fiscal year 2005 is good as dead.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-82696","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\/82696","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=82696"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82696\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}