Saipan Mayor’s Office secures $100K for heavy equipment

After four months and four letters asking for heavy equipment, the Saipan Mayor’s Office finally secured $100,000 for the purpose after the Saipan and Northern Islands Legislative Delegation passed an appropriations bill on June 24.

Saipan Mayor Marian Deleon Guerrero Tudela told Saipan Tribune it is good to have a portion of the money and that they will use it to procure heavy equipment.

Last Feb. 19, the late mayor Donald Flores wrote Gov. Eloy S. Inos and the delegation, requesting to include the mayor’s office on the list of agencies that will be given a portion of the $2,717,969 in bond funds that the administration and the Commonwealth Development Authority said was available for appropriation.

Flores took immediate steps to submit his request for some $400,000 to $500,000 for the purpose of acquiring heavy equipment.

On March 27, Flores wrote another letter to Inos and SNILD, notifying them of the current status of the mayor’s office and asking for $100,000. The amount would be used to pay for operational expenses such as road repair, water delivery, removal of debris, and more up to the end of the fiscal year.

In his letter, the late mayor said his office would incur a budget shortfall of $10,814 by the end of fiscal year 2014 if he doesn’t get the amount he is asking for.

On April 11, Flores submitted his written comments on House Local Bill 18-51 to delegation chair Ray Tebuteb (IR-Saipan) and House on Ways and Means Committee chair Tony Sablan (IR-Saipan).

In it, he restated his message contained in his March 27 letter to Inos and the delegation that his office will incur a budget shortfall and that his office needs at least $500,000 to buy new heavy equipment.

On June 17, Tudela submitted her written request to Tebuteb and comments on HLB 18-51. Tudela asked that $100,000 be appropriated for the mayor’s office for the purpose of paying some $47,806 in arrears, which the mayor’s office accrued from heavy equipment rental.

At the time Tudela’s June 17 letter was being prepared, they computed outstanding heavy equipment rental charges at $47,806. On June 20, however, the company that the mayor’s office contracted for a road motor grader for the road projects billed a total of $16,320 in rental charges for the grader alone and $61,246 in total rental fees.

According to the Saipan Mayor’s Office special adviser Henry Hofschneider, House Speaker Joseph Deleon Guerrero (IR-Saipan) said that the money can only be used to buy heavy equipment.

“We wanted $100,000 to help with operation expenses and we’ve been renting heavy equipment but now the money can only be used for heavy equipment,” Hofschneider said.