Previous Story
Of Judiciary’s $4M budget request, $3.6M for 68 FTEs
|
Posted on Apr 16 2012
Of the CNMI Judiciary’s $4 million budget request for fiscal year 2013, some $3.59 million is intended to pay for the salaries and benefits of 68 authorized full-time positions.
Acting Chief Justice Alexandro C. Castro and Presiding Judge Robert C. Naraja said this is an increase by two more FTEs than the 66 FTEs authorized in Public Law 17-55 for fiscal year 2012.
“Over the years, the Judiciary’s expenditure and hiring authorities deliberately reduced the number of requested FTEs to reduce the size of the Judiciary’s budget in direct response to dwindling government resources,” said Castro and Naraja in the Judiciary’s budget request recently submitted to the Legislature.
From 119 FTEs in 2003, the Judiciary’s authorized FTEs were slashed to 66 in 2012—a 45-percent decrease in total staffing.
Castro and Naraja said the Judiciary has come to a point where further decreases in the number of FTEs is unsustainable.
The new requested FTEs for fiscal year 2013 are for the positions of deputy marshal for Tinian and secretary to associate judge with total salary and benefits of $24,467 and $27,698 respectively.
Castro and Naraja said the deputy marshal for Tinian was established by the Judiciary with funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
However, Castro and Naraja said, the grant funding for this position has been exhausted, and efforts to seek additional grant assistance to continue funding the position have been unsuccessful.
“As a result, there is no deputy marshal [on] Tinian at this time, and, moreover, there is currently only one other established FTE for the Judiciary on the island of Tinian [a Deputy Clerk I],” they said.
With respect to the secretary for associate judge, there are currently five Superior Court judges’ chambers being serviced by four secretaries.
Castro and Naraja said a fifth secretary position had been authorized in previous appropriations but had been left unfilled due to budget shortfalls and, as a result, was subsequently eliminated.
