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DPW seeks $4.1M budget, 64 personnel for FY 2016
The Department of Public Works has submitted a budget of $4.14 million for fiscal year 2016, the bulk of which will go to payments of streetlights’ power consumption.
The Legislature held a budget hearing for the DPW on Tuesday to review the department’s budget proposal.
An overview of the budget showed that $1.8 million has been allocated to the streetlights, estimated to number more than 4,000.
The proposed budget for the DPW Office of the Secretary reached $766,126, and a staff of 13.
The proposed budget for the Building Safety Code Division is at $387,414 and a staff of 13.
The Roads and Grounds Division’s proposed budget is $238,173 with a staff of 10, and the Technical Services Division’s proposed budget is $914,353 and a staff of 28.
DPW’s total proposed personnel for the next fiscal year is 64, and plugged into the budget are positions that are still open.
A new round of review will be conducted after the budget hearings of the other departments.
According to Rep. Antonio P. Sablan (Ind-Saipan), chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means, the government would like to have an inventory of the streetlights, because it was reported that based on a rough estimate, some 600 lights are “not working.”
Sablan said it is important to “know the actual costs of what the government needs to pay for the streetlights that are working,” adding that knowing actual costs “may save the government some money.”
Generally, Sablan said, the DPW is “satisfied” with its budget request because the department was able to realign some of its resources, particularly its Technical Services Division where most of the personnel are deployed.
Sablan also said the DPW’s landfill operations are projected to bring in about $2.2 million for the department this year.
Up next for the House Committee of Ways and Means are budget hearing for the Department of Fire and the Saipan Mayor’s Office this week.
