Flashback — April 2000-April 2002

$1.6-M earmarked for Saipan Mayor’s Office[/B]

Saipan lawmakers on Friday approved three appropriation bills amounting to $1.6 million, the biggest chunk of which will be earmarked for the Mayor’s Office to cover budget shortfall in its operational costs. The office stands to receive $683,700 under the twin measures sponsored by Rep. Jesus T. Attao once Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio signs them into law. From that amount, $171,700 from the fees collected from bingo, cockfight and batu operations on Saipan will be used to purchase of parts and heavy equipment as well as equipment rental fees for the municipality.

As the academic year begins winding down for Spring break, the Saipan Garment Manufacturer’s Association (SGMA) is stepping up and doing their part to help two student groups participate in their extracurricular projects. Last week, SGMA acting chair Richard A. Pierce spoke to the Marianas High School Close Up Club and presented a $2,000 check from SGMA to help defray costs of their upcoming visit to Washington, DC. Twenty students from the club will tour the nation’s capitol from April 8th to the 22nd and get a first-hand look at the American political machine in action. As part of the Close Up program, the group will meet representatives of the Department of the Interior.
[B] Apr. 10, 2001

Tax amnesty bill hurdles Senate[/B]

If it fills government coffers, it must be good. A bill seeking to grant delinquent taxpayers a 90-day grace period to settle their obligations with the government passed the Senate floor last week. The proposed measure is seen to provide additional revenues for the government. However, senators took turns in grilling former Revenue and Taxation Director Rufino Inos for an important mechanism that would clearly define the implementing policies, under which the proposed measure will be based. Senators also made sure the amnesty bill will not run against the Commonwealth’s existing tax system.

Rota Mayor Benjamin T. Manglona is asking the Tenorio Administration for a higher budget ceiling due to what he said was the need to meet increasing operational expenditures. “For the last three years, our budget level has become stagnant while costs of operation continue to escalate. Employees continue to receive their annual five percent within grade increase,” said Mr. Manglona. He pointed out that a limited number of employees have been classified or promoted while a large number are awaiting reclassification and promotion due to the amount of responsibility and level of work performed.

NMI to receive $1.385M in federal funds[/B]

The CNMI Governor’s Council on Developmental Disabilities will receive a preliminary federal grant award of about $1.385 million based on the agency’s fiscal year 2001 application for a Real Choice System change grant. The good news was relayed to Council Executive Director Thomas J. Camacho in an April 8 letter by Thomas Hamilton, director of the Disabled and Elderly Health Programs Group-Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Center for Medicaid and State Operations (CMS). Base on a panel of independent reviewers, the Council’s application was rated one of the competitively ranked applications. Qualified applicants are those that submitted a grant application last August 2001.

The Ayuda Foundation’s Micronesia Medical Missions was awarded $50,000 for each of the next three years by the Larry Hillblom Foundation. The award was made to support the work being done by the Ayuda Foundation to improve medical care for the people of Micronesia. The Ayuda Foundation, run by co-executive directors Shannon Murphy and Carlotta Leon Guerrero, has been in existence for six years. It was only in 2001, however, that it began full time operations. The group sends medical professionals to provide services free of charge from Guam to other islands in Micronesia. It also conducts public health campaigns such as Reach Out and Read and Island Girl Power on Guam, and secures donated medical equipment and medicine for island clinics and hospitals.