Budget deliberation resumes

The House Ways and Means Committee resumed yesterday its deliberation on the FY 2000 budget package, more than two months after it deferred passage of the proposal due to disagreement on how to divide the shrinking cash resources of the government.

The panel hopes to complete the task by middle of this month before the Legislature goes into sine die and after members iron out differences, such as the level of appropriation to be given to each department or agency.

Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio submitted in April a $206 million spending level, representing a 2 percent drop from the revised budget for FY 1999.

Because of lower revenue projection, lawmakers are finding it difficult to come up with a balanced budget for this fiscal year as some agencies, like the Public School System and the Department of Public Health, have been asking for bigger share.

On Sept. 29, a day before the constitutionally-mandated deadline for the budget approval, the House agreed to defer action pending further review by the administration.

Committee Chair Karl T. Reyes said the discussion at the committee meeting yesterday led to a decision to put back provisions that members initially removed from the proposed budget bill.

This includes easing a restriction on hiring professional people to work in departments such as the Attorney General’s Office or the Commonwealth Health Center.

According to Mr. Reyes, the decision means that these offices will be allowed to recruit necessary personnel at a competitive salary provided they do not exceed the appropriation for personnel costs and employment ceiling.

“If they are budgeted for it, they will be allowed to hire the people they need,” he said in an interview after the meeting.

The Ways and Means chair, however, assured the provision will not lead to overspending by the government saying safeguards will be put in place.

“There is not much to be changed at the personnel, not even the costs,” added Mr. Reyes.

Salary for the nearly 5,000 public sector employees and other personnel benefits eat up about 80 percent of the entire budget of the Commonwealth.

While the House hopes to pass the budget bill within the next few weeks with few changes, it is not certain whether the Senate will approve the same proposal.

Senate Fiscal Affairs Committee Chair Pete P. Reyes has vowed to slash funding from non-essential services, such as housing allowance and purchase of new computers, to boost funding for scholarship and medical referral programs.

The government is currently running under the same spending level as the previous fiscal year as provided in the continuing resolution that was adopted at the start of FY 2000 last Oct. 1 in the absence of the approved budget.