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NMHC hopes Inos OKs bill exempting agency from CAA
The Northern Marianas Housing Corp. hopes that Gov. Eloy S. Inos will affix his signature to House Bill 18-211, which passed the Senate last week. That bill seeks to exempt NMHC from the salary limitations imposed by the Compensation Adjustment Act.
The measure states that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development requires all Public Housing Authorities like NMHC “to provide on an annual basis data on the compensation for their top 5 highest compensated employees to ensure that pay ranges are commensurate with the size and number of housing units in housing authorities in uniformity with federal standards.”
While the agency is extremely pleased with the passage of House Bill 18-211, NMHC director Jesse Palacios hopes the measure will become law.
“I want to thank the House and the Senate for passing the bill. It’s really more for NMHC to keep in line with other housing agencies that are our size. I hope the governor will sign it as well.”
Palacios said keeping NMHC salaries in line with federal standards is important in retaining his staff.
“It’s really good for our staff…good for our staff who have the training, experience, and institutional knowledge. We will now be able to retain them rather than see them look for other jobs with higher pay. It’s more of continuity for us, too. We invested in our staff so we want our staff to also remain at NMHC,” he said.
Palacios said just the past couple of years NMHC has lost three of their staff that have master’s degrees because of the agency’s current low salaries.
Rep. John Paul Sablan (R-Saipan), who along with Reps. Roman C. Benavente (Ind-Saipan), Lorenzo I. Deleon Guerrero (Ind-Saipan), Janet U. Maratita (Ind-Saipan), and Ralph N. Yumul (Ind-Saipan) introduced the bill, said he sees nothing wrong with the bill.
“The program [NMHC] is 100 percent federally funded so I don’t see anything wrong. It doesn’t hurt our local coffers. It will help our local economy because staff of NMHC will use their money here. If it’s allowed by personnel operations funds we should capitalize on it,” he said.
HB 18-211 passed the House of Representatives last Nov. 25 on first and final reading.
