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‘It’s never too early for a budget
Gov. Ralph DLG Torres praised the House of Representatives yesterday for the swift and timely passage of the fiscal year 2018 budget bill last Tuesday.
Torres said he is happy that the budget got out of the House of Representatives by the end of July, giving the Senate two months to review the bill. Although a number of departments did not get the amounts that they wished for, he said the appropriated amounts are definitely enough for the departments to “function the right way.”
When asked about the contentious 80-percent salary increase, the governor said he is merely following the law.
“… The law calls for an appropriation of [about $1.8 million in salary increases],” said Torres, adding because of the increases, the CNMI government is currently “in court regarding that issue.”
The budget bill appropriated about $1.08 million for the salary increases of legislators.
“Worst-case scenario, if that increase did not go through, we would still have that amount to appropriate. As a governor, I still have to appropriate that funds for their salaries until there is a ruling [against it],” he said.
Public Law 19-83 was passed in the 19th CNMI Legislature. It increased the salaries of elected officials by 80 percent, and the salaries of civil service employees by 5 percent.
The fiscal year 2018 budget reflected that increase when Torres submitted his budget proposal to the Legislature with an appropriation of about $1.8 million for lawmakers’ salaries, an increase that was opposed by Reps. Edwin Propst (Ind-Saipan), Vinson Sablan (Ind-Saipan), and minority leader Rep. Edmund Villagomez (Ind-Saipan).
Despite the opposition, Torres said the fiscal year 2018 budget bill is better off early than late and that “it is never too early for the budget” since the Senate has yet to review it.
“Now that [July just ended], that [leaves] us with two months to work with the senators or [both the House and the Senate] if there is a conference committee and I still have [20] days as a governor to review it, so we don’t want to rush it at the eleventh hour before we pass it,” he said.
