Health eyes cuts to save jobs: Chief

The Department of Public Health is planning to carry out a seven-hour work per day schedule among the administrative staff since its budget for fiscal year 2000 has only been pegged at $33.9 million.

Public Health Secretary Kevin Villagomez said the amount to be saved in work hour reduction would be used in the purchase of medical supplies. “We have no choice but to live within our means because the economic situation only permits us to operate within this level. It is really going to be difficult for us to maintain a huge facility at a very low budget,” he said.

Eighty percent of the $33.9 million budget will go to salaries of personnel alone while the remaining amount will be spent on operations.

According to Villagomez, the department has implemented a freeze in hiring of non-medical personnel. Likewise, purchase of medical equipment will be made depending on the need of the Commonwealth Health Center.

He said the $33.9 million budget for fiscal year 2000 is similar to the appropriation which the department received for fiscal year 1999 with the 13.4 percent budget cut carried out by the Office of Management and Budget due to shrinking revenue.

However, before the reduction in manhours is carried out, the department has asked the Attorney General’s Office to clarify whether employees who would only be able to render less than 40 hours of work a week are still entitled to receive the same amount of benefits.

Villagomez said he hopes the staff would be able to understand why the department would have to make such a decision. “They have to realize that it is a much better option than having to lose their jobs,” he said.

Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio is planning to submit approximately $210 million budget for fiscal year 2000, of which an estimated $4 million would come from public land leases.

This reflects a 15 percent reduction in the budget package from original resource projections of $242 million approved by legislators in September.

The chief executive has left to the department heads and mayors the decision on whether they should implement a salary cut or reduction in manhours to help the cash-strapped government cope with the financial crisis besetting the CNMI.

So far, the Office of Tinian Mayor has already carried out a seven-hour work per day since last year and the Saipan Mayor’s Office will implement a 10 percent salary reduction on May 1, 1999.

Furthermore, the Commonwealth Ports Authority has implemented a 10 percent reduction in salary on April 1 in order to survive operations amid the continuous decline in revenue.