Budget may get Senate approval

After nearly three months of scrutiny, the Senate is expected to approve the much-delayed fiscal budget in a scheduled session tomorrow with key changes to several appropriation items.

Senators are also preparing for an anticipated bicameral meeting with House members as they expect rejection by the counterpart of their version of the FY 2001 budget.

Sen. Edward U. Maratita, chair of the Fiscal Affairs Committee, said the upper has reached a consensus on the spending package following intense deliberation in the past few weeks.

“By Wednesday, we will be able to pass the budget. Definitely, the House will reject our proposal,” he told in an interview.

The Rota senator, along with Sen. Joaquin G. Adriano from Tinian and Senate Floor Leader Pete P. Reyes from Saipan, have been designated by Senate President Paul A. Manglona to sit in the bicameral conference committee.

The House has yet to name its representatives to the negotiating table to hammer out a budget acceptable to both chambers.

If it pushes through, this will be the second time in less that six months that the two houses will lock horns on the budget which has always been marked by differences on how to distribute the government cash resources.

Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio has proposed a $221.66 million spending limit for fiscal year beginning Oct. 1, 2000 up to Sept. 30, 2001, allocating nearly half of the anticipated revenues to education, health and public safety.

Although the House did not veer away much from the administration’s proposal, the Senate has shifted some of the funds to what it perceived as critical programs of the government.

According to Mr. Maratita, the committee based its review on the FY 2000 budget vetoed by the governor and gave additional money to public health and scholarship programs.

The Senate will also press earmarking of $2 million to partly pay close to 2,000 employees whose retroactive salary increase under Public Law 7-31 has long been overdue, he said.

It will likewise set aside half-a-million dollars for a program it is proposing to benefit returning college graduates in order to ensure their employment on the islands, added the senator.

“That’s few of the changes we have made. Otherwise, the rest is pretty much intact,” Mr. Maratita said.

Mr. Adriano, on the other hand, said they will push allocation of separate funding for satellite offices of the Marianas Visitors Authority for Rota and Tinian.

Two new positions — deputy managing director for each of the island municipality — will be created under the Senate’s budget proposal.

Rota and Tinian will get additional $200,000 each for the MVA office, bringing their budget to $16 million per municipality, said Mr. Adriano.

“We want fair distribution of the MVA budget so that the two islands will be promoted as tourist destination, not just Saipan,” the senator told in a separate interview.