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Budget hearings begin today
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Posted on May 02 2012
By Haidee V. Eugenio
Reporter
Reporter
House Ways and Means Committee chair Ray Basa (Cov-Saipan) said yesterday that the fiscal year 2013 budget hearings will cover only five critical or major agencies starting today, giving them an opportunity to be heard whether they can live within their means under Gov. Benigno R. Fitial’s $102 million budget submission.
“Because there are only five agencies, we will be able to finish the hearings by next week and begin committee deliberation. My goal is to have a budget bill introduced by the end of this month or early June,” Basa told Saipan Tribune in an interview at his office.
Fiscal year 2013, which is from Oct. 1, 2012, to Sept. 30, 2013, will have the same budget level as that of 2012.
“We will have bill ready much earlier than in the last two years. The Senate will have enough time to also review it. Hopefully this year we will be able to agree on a budget ahead of the deadline to avoid a shutdown. After all, the budget for 2013 is the same as the same amount as in 2012,” Basa added.
He said the committee will be hearing from the Department of Public Safety today, and the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. tomorrow.
Wednesday next week, Ways and Means will be hearing from the Judiciary and Northern Marianas College. The following day will be the Public School System’s turn.
Rep. Frank Dela Cruz (R-Saipan) said he is interested to hear from the Department of Public Lands, which has a projected revenue of over $5.1 million for 2013, compared to only over $2.9 million in 2012.
“That’s an increase of over $2.1 million. I hope DPL or Ways and Means will later be able to tell the members why there’s this increase. Do they really expect land lease collections to increase? We want to know,” Dela Cruz said.
The House adopted last week a concurrent resolution capping the fiscal year 2013 budget at $102 million. But the adoption came only after a lengthy discussion on whether the governor factored in his proposed budget the July launching of Saipan Air, which is expected to boost tourist arrivals and generate additional revenue for the government.
The governor can make changes to his budget submission by July 1 or 90 days before the start of the new fiscal year.
