Legislature poised to OK FY2000 budget

A back-to-back session of both houses of the Legislature may be held today or tomorrow to pass the proposed FY 2000 budget following an agreement by a bicameral committee on appropriations for Rota and Tinian municipalities.

The Senate met yesterday during a leadership meeting to discuss the forthcoming session which it hopes to conduct once the House of Representatives has approved the much-delayed budget bill.

The six-member joint Senate-House committee agreed last week on Tinian to appropriate the $4 million earlier earmarked for government utilities payment for the funding requirements of Rota and Tinian during the current fiscal year.

Senators also consented to a proposal from the House of Representatives to allocate about $700,000 from government cash resources to finance a lobbying campaign in Washington D.C.

According to Senate Vice President Thomas P. Villagomez, the Senate does not foresee any problem in giving its stamp of approval once the House passes the budget. “We will wait for their action before we go ahead and vote on the bill,” he said in an interview after the meeting.

The bicameral conference was prompted by disapproval of Senate amendment on the bill appropriating the projected $211 million revenues of the government for FY 2000 as the House expressed concern on the impact of eliminating the $4 million budget from utilities payment.

The government has owed over $11 million to the Commonwealth Utilities Corporation in unpaid utility bills which have accumulated for the past few years. A payment plan is currently being negotiated by CUC with the finance department to reduce that debt.

However, lawmakers have assured utilities payment will be met this year as a provision has been inserted in the budget bill that will allocate surplus funds from the spending package strictly for CUC.

In approving the budget passed last March by the lower house, the Senate shifted the $4 million budget for Rota and Tinian to make their appropriation level at par with what the Legislature set aside during the FY 1999 package.

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.

Although the budget bill will likely pass the Legislature, it is not certain whether Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio will sign it into law. CUC officials have opposed the cut on utilities payment in view of the government’s mounting debt which has reached over $11 million since last year.

The 2000 budget has derailed since September due to disagreement among lawmakers, forcing the government to run under continuing resolution reflecting appropriation the previous year.

Last April 1, the governor submitted his FY 2001 proposal amounting to $220 million, which the Legislature will soon tackle before the current fiscal year ends in Sept. 30.