$387K spending measure OK’d

The Saipan and Northern Islands Legislative Delegation passed a bill yesterday that appropriates $387,000 collected from poker licenses and fees for a myriad of uses.

Ayuda Network, whose members filled the House of Representatives chamber yesterday, was one of the agencies that will benefit from the appropriations bill that passed the delegation on first and final reading.

House Local Bill 18-64, D1 passed on a vote of 19 yes and two absences, as Senate President Ralph DLG. Torres (R-Saipan) was in a meeting and Senate floor leader Pete Reyes (Ind-Saipan) was off-island on official business.

The delegation approved $18,000 for Ayuda Network, which the non-profit will use for its personnel expenses.

Ayuda Network executive director Diane Camacho said they need about $25,000 more for other expenses, including repair of their office in Susupe. She said there is currently no power in their office after the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. shut off electricity to their decrepit building because of sparks last week.

Nonetheless, Ayuda Network staff, members, and supporters applauded when HLB 18-64, D1 was passed.

One of the biggest appropriations under the bill is the $60,000 earmarked for the operations of the CNMI Farmer’s Cooperative Association.

Under the bill, the expenditure authority for the money is the cooperative’s president, former senator Maria Frica Pangelinan. Pangelinan herself is required to submit an expenditure of funds report to the delegation chairman 30 days after the end of the fiscal year.

The bill also gives $75,000 for the construction of Fitme Place road on Navy Hill, Saipan and for the inner road construction from the Garapan Fishing Base north to the Children’s Park area by the Carolinian Affairs Office.

Another $32,000 was set aside for the Office of the Mayor of Saipan for field operations equipment under the expenditure authority of the mayor of Saipan.

“The mayor of Saipan shall submit an expenditure of funds report to the chairman of the Saipan and Northern Islands Legislative Delegation 30 days after the end of the fiscal year,” the bill states.

The delegation also earmarked $30,000 for the Public School System to procure school buses under the expenditure authority of the Education Commissioner. The commissioner is also required to submit an expenditure of funds report to the SNILD chairman 30 days after the end of the fiscal year.

The local delegation, chaired by Rep. Ramon Tebuteb (Ind-Saipan), also appropriated monies to the following:

-$34,000 for the repair and maintenance of the basketball court & social hall in Precinct II;

-$34,000 to construct bus shelters and road bumps in Precinct V;

-$34,000 to renovate the Health Center in Precinct IV;

-$70,000.00 for various projects in Precinct 1

The SNILD went into recess a number of times to straighten out some details of the appropriations bill. The members finally agreed on revisions and passed the bill before noon.

The bill, which now goes to the desk of Gov. Eloy S. Inos, was certified by Tebuteb and House Speaker Joseph P. Deleon Guerrero.