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Governor’s supplemental budget awaits Mariana House net sales
»House PUTC chair hopes that $2M-$3M of supplemental budget would go to CUC
Gov. Eloy S. Inos is awaiting confirmation about “net” proceeds from the sale of Mariana House in Washington, D.C., before finalizing his fiscal year 2014 supplemental budget, expected to be between $8 million and $9 million. At the same time, Rep. Lorenzo Deleon Guerrero (Ind-Saipan) hopes that “at least” $2 million to $3 million of any supplemental budget should be used to pay the government’s unpaid utility bills totaling over $22 million.
“It would be a big relief for CUC [Commonwealth Utilities Corp.] customers who don’t need to be burdened with rate increase if CUC is paid $2 million to $3 million at least under the supplemental budget rather than wait for the 2015 budget. Everybody would be happy,” said Deleon Guerrero, chairman of the House Public Utilities, Transportation and Communications Committee and a member of the House Ways and Means Committee.
But the governor said the supplemental budget is strictly for the additional $5 million needed to complete the $25 million minimum 2014 government payment into the retirement settlement trust fund, and the rest would be for the government health insurance premium payment.
The governor’s supplemental budget, however, would be subject to legislative approval.
Ways and Means Committee chair Rep. Tony Sablan (Ind-Saipan), like Deleon Guerrero, is considering appropriating some funds to pay portions of what the CNMI government owes CUC in unpaid utility bills.
The committee will be meeting with Finance and Office of Management and Budget officials as early as Wednesday morning to discuss not only the governor’s proposed $134 million budget for 2015 but also the expected 2014 supplemental budget.
Inos said he had his proposed 2014 supplemental budget drafted last week but there are still some items he needed to confirm, including net proceeds from the Mariana House sale, before finalizing it.
“I want to know the net proceeds [from the Mariana House sale] because there are expenses [associated with] selling [it],” he said. “It’s just that we got to isolate the cost associated with it so they don’t appropriate that part. That’s the holdup.”
The CNMI government sold the Mariana House in Washington, D.C., to a real estate firm for over $900,000, after years of sitting idle since it stopped being the official residence of the CNMI’s resident representative to the nation’s capital in 2009. The CNMI bought the property for $250,000 to $300,000.
The administration listed the property, located at 2121 R Street NW Washington, D.C., last year.
At the time, its appraised value was between $800,000 and $1 million.
