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House panel starts reviewing proposed budget
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Posted on Apr 11 2018
The House Ways and Means Committee has started reviewing the fiscal year 2019 budget.
The committee’s review of the budget proposal offered by Gov. Ralph DLG Torres is some six months well before the deadline of a final product on Oct. 1, 2018, according to the committee’s chairman, Rep. Angel A. Demapan (R-Saipan).
Noting a $21.4-million increase in the proposed budget compared to fiscal year 2018, Torres’ $258.1-million budget “reflects how much we have progressed over the past couple of years.”
“After decades of mounting government debt, we have since paid over $116 million for outstanding obligations in land compensation, judgments, retiree benefits, [and appropriations to the] Public School System and Commonwealth Healthcare Corp.,” Demapan told Saipan Tribune.
“The next step will be to conduct a resources hearing with the governor’s special assistant for Management and Budget and the secretary of Finance,” added Demapan.
He would then “introduce a concurrent resolution to concur with the governor’s projected revenue.”
“…Once the House adopts that, we will begin scheduling public hearings for the agencies,” he said.
Demapan did not specify which agencies would be prioritized for the budget hearings.
