Tinian claims violation in Finance’s taking of $676K

The Department of Finance’s taking of $676,000 from the Tinian Mayor’s Office’s fiscal year 2014 budget to pay utility bills is “in direct violation of the 2014 CNMI Budget Act,” according to Tinian Mayor Ramon Dela Cruz’s chief of staff, Don Farrell.

The Inos administration said yesterday Finance will help facilitate talks between the Tinian mayor’s office and the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. so that the former can be reimbursed or credited such amount for future usage.

Farrell, in an Aug. 22 letter to Senate Fiscal Affairs Committee chair Jovita Taimanao (Ind-Rota), said that taking funds from Tinian’s general fund budget and depriving Tinian’s line agencies of the funds allocated to them “is contrary to the Budget Act.”

Farrell cited Chapter VI, Section 601 or the utilities provision of the 2014 budget law. It states, “The amount appropriated for the payment of utilities shall not be reprogrammed, nor shall other appropriations be reprogrammed for the payment of utilities, except for the purpose of covering increased utility costs due to rate increases.”

“As a result of the taking, our people are suffering,” Farrell told Taimanao. “We need our legitimate budget back, with full reprogramming authority for the short period left in [fiscal year] 2014.”

Farrell’s letter was sent a day after the Senate passed the 2015 budget bill with amendments. The House will hold a session this week mainly to vote on the Senate version of the budget bill.

If the House rejects the Senate budget version, then a conference committee will be formed to hash out the differences between the two houses.

“We understand that your committee is now busy preparing the 2015 budget, but what good will result from your committee’s best efforts if the Department of Finance will not respect them?” Farrell asked Taimanao.

Farrell also asked Taimanao’s Senate Fiscal Affairs Committee to find out whether Tinian “was singled out for this CUC subsidy, or were other agencies treated similarly?”

In a separate Aug. 22 letter to CUC Tinian executive director Evelyn Manglona, Farrell thanked CUC Tinian for helping the mayor’s office resolve its billings.

Farrelll said they recognize that CUC probably doesn’t have the cash on hand to reimburse the Tinian mayor’s office for the transfer of some $676,000 from the Tinian mayor’s office 2014 budget to CUC in April this year.

“However, we must rectify the problem and at least make an appropriate credit to our account. We would appreciate it if you would continue to work with our staff to resolve the MOT accounts in the near future,” Farrell told CUC’s Manglona.

Finance paid CUC $676,000 for the Tinian mayor’s office utility billings. It was later discovered that CUC erred in its reading of the Tinian mayor’s office’s power meter. Now, the Tinian mayor’s office seeks reimbursement or future credit to its account.

Acting press secretary Ivan Blanco, meanwhile, said yesterday that the reconciliation matter is now between the Tinian mayor’s office and CUC.

However, Blanco said, Finance will help facilitate dialogue between the two parties.

Yesterday, Farrell said he does not know how acting governor Jude U. Hofschneider could tell the media that he is not aware of the Tinian finance problems when both newspapers reported it as early as April.

“Since then, we have worked with Tinian CUC staff and discovered that our billings are bogus which led to our recent letter to Senator Taimanao. After all, the governor assigned the responsibility of overseeing Tinian’s needs to the lieutenant governor when they assumed executive office over a year ago. And early this year, the lieutenant governor opened his own office on Tinian, fully staffed—from what budget we do not know. How could he not be aware of the problem?” Farrell told reporters.