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‘LB plagued with lack of expenditure monitoring’
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Posted on Nov 23 2006
The Legislative Bureau has either overspent or underspent its resources due to lack of expenditure monitoring and a line item budget, according to the Office of the Public Auditor.
An OPA evaluation of the bureau’s operations showed that the LB may have exceeded its budget appropriations in fiscal year 2004 by $110,761. Expenditure totals for FY2005 and the first quarter of FY2006 showed, however, that the LB underspent its budget by $143,654 and $26,266, respectively.
The bureau is given an annual budget of not more than $2 million to provide services to the Legislature during sessions and committee meetings and maintain all records, files, library, and other documents of the Legislature.
Department of Finance expenditure reports showed that the LB expended $2.11 million in FY2004, $1.86 million in FY2005, and $473,734 in FY2006.
OPA said that the LB apparently does not prepare or submit to the Office of Management and Budget a line item budget showing budgeted expenditures by object class.
“OPA believes that the monitoring of expenditures and preparation of a line item budget is key to controlled spending and planning. The preparation of a line item budget also provides a method to measure and reassess allocation of available resources based on priorities, is imperative for setting financial goals for the coming year, and can enable a government entity or agency to monitor budget to actual expenditures and implement a strategy to ensure that its purpose or mandates are fulfilled in a manner that is efficient and fiscally prudent,” OPA said.
The agency urged the bureau to establish a system for monitoring its expenditures and consider preparing a line item budget worksheet which can be submitted and included in the budget proposal for overall inclusion in the CNMI fiscal year budget. [I][B](Agnes E. Donato)[/B][/I]
