Lawmakers eye compromise on spending plan

Meeting on Tinian today, members of the House-Senate joint committee on budget are expected to hammer out a compromise on a spending package for the current fiscal year with a proposal to cut appropriations from some government agencies.

Sen. Edward U. Maratita, chair of the Senate Fiscal Affairs Committee, said the upper house will insist on giving Rota and Tinian delegation a budget at par with the amount approved by the Legislature in FY 1999.

Each of the island municipalities was given allotment of over $15 million last year, but the amount dropped to $13 million due to the 13.4 percent cut imposed by the Tenorio administration in late 1998.

“Just because we agreed to receive that budget, that doesn’t mean we are settling with that level,” Mr. Maratita told in an interview.

The Senate has recommended shifting the $4 million funds out of government utilities payment under the FY 2000 budget to meet the budget requirements for Rota and Tinian — a move that was rejected by the House late last month.

Today’s meeting is the first such discussion on the budget bill by both houses of the Legislature which delayed its passage in September last year due to differences among members on how to distribute the $211 million estimated revenues.

Aside from the Rota senator, others sitting in the negotiation table include Senate Floor Leader Pete P. Reyes and Tinian Sen. Joaquin G. Adriano as well as House Floor Leader Oscar M. Babauta, Ways and Means Committee Chair Antonio Camacho and Rep. Malua T. Peter.

Mr. Maratita expressed confidence over an agreement with their House counterparts on the budget, saying that the Senate is willing to support their proposed changes to the package submitted by Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio more than a year ago.

In fact, he disclosed the senators would back recommendation by the House to reinstate funding for Washington lobbyists amounting to $700,000.

Cuts

Asked where the lawmakers will find the money, Mr. Maratita said they are looking at cutting the budget for non-essential services, but maintained critical areas, like schools, police, hospital, scholarships and medical referral, would be spared.

“Of course, there will be cuts, but nothing will be cut from these critical services,” he added.

Mr. Babauta said he is also confident that an understanding will be reached at today’s meeting, noting that an earlier informal discussion went on smoothly.

“Hopefully we will have a budget by next week,” he said in a separate interview, adding that the House will tackle the Senate’s chief concerns regarding the budget for Rota and Tinian. “The bottom line is to have a concurrence agreement.”

Citing an informal discussion between both houses yesterday, Mr. Babauta stressed the Senate is “amenable” to their recommendations.

“We will work within the budget that the governor has submitted,” he added.

Both Mr. Babauta and Mr. Maratita expressed hopes that the governor would sign the budget bill they will be passing more than halfway into the fiscal year.

Under the Constitution, if there is no approved fiscal budget, the government will run under the same spending limit as in the previous year to avoid shutting down its operations. In FY 99, the budget was placed at $216 million or two percent higher than the proposal for this year.

On April 1, Mr. Tenorio handed in his new budget proposal for FY 2001 amounting to $220 million which the Legislature must approve before the next fiscal year begins in Oct. 1 to prevent adoption of another continuing resolution.