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Fund’s proposed budget for 2018 is $47.2M
The Settlement Fund’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2018 amounts to $47,187,880, which is $880,364 less than the 2017 tentative budget, according to Settlement Fund trustee Joyce C. H. Tang.
Tang also disclosed that the balance in the Settlement Fund’s investment accounts for fiscal year 2017 as of Aug. 31, 2017 is $79.6 million.
The proposed expenses and balance of investment accounts were among the issues that Tang discussed in her report filed in federal court on the Settlement Fund’s operations for fiscal year 2016 through the third quarter of fiscal year 2017.
Under the proposed fiscal year 2018 budget, the Fund’s proposed expenses for professional fees is $945,000, compared to $797,000 for the same fees in fiscal year 2017’s tentative budget—an increase of $148,000.
Tang noted that the increase is due primarily to the expected completion of the Settlement Fund’s audits for fiscal years 2015, 2016, and 2017.
In fiscal year 2017, the Settlement Fund withdrew $7.1 million to cover benefit payments and administrative fees, Tang said, and gained $4.06 million on its investments.
“The investment portfolio for [fiscal year] 2017 outperformed the expected return of 4.6 percent by 1.87 percent,” she said.
The Settlement Fund drew down $3.5 million in fiscal year 2016 and $7 million in fiscal year 2017 from its investments to cover the 75 percent benefits.
In both fiscal years, the CNMI government remitted $15.148 million and $13.515 million, respectively, to the Settlement Fund for the 25 percent benefit payments.
