OPA wants salary hike for all gov’t employees

Ignoring what seems to be for the best interest of his office, Public Auditor Michael Sablan is favoring the implementation of a salary cap increase across all agencies of government.

“Exempting the OPA from the salary cap would be unfair. I know it would benefit the OPA if the Senate allows the exemption, but I’m looking at the overall picture here,” Mr. Sablan said.

The Public Auditor said he agrees with positions held by the Office of Personnel Management and the Attorney General’s Office which both opposed the exemption.

“We have some qualified people at finance and at revenue and tax, public works, at the hospitals and the college, who are also equally deserving of higher salaries like employees of the OPA,” Mr. Sablan stressed.

He further noted that the government should take a look at the salary cap and see if an adjustment is merited.

Under Public Law 7-31, the government has pegged $50,000 as the maximum annual compensation package for its employees.

“The cap has been around for some 10 years and has not been adjusted. So you have professionals like engineers, accountants, financial managers, who have risen over the years but a lot of them are still on that $50,000 level,” Mr. Sablan said.

He argued that the 10-year old salary cap has fermented a situation wherein nobody wants to go up the promotion ladder anymore because some supervisors are already receiving the salaries of managers.

Mr. Sablan argued supervisors would no longer aspire for a higher post with bigger responsibilities because if they do well in their current positions, they would attain the salary grade of their superiors in no time.

In a senate hearing last month, Director of Personnel Mathilda A. Rosario opposed the OPA salary cap exemption. She argued that the agency was not the only government body with troubles retaining employees because of unattractive compensation packages. Ms. Rosario said it would be unfair of the senate to grant the OPA such a request.

The AGO, for its part, advised the senate that passing a measure exempting the OPA would be unconstitutional because the authority to exercise salary adjustments rests solely with the Executive branch.

Instead, it recommended that the senate pass a bill that would hike the compensation packages of all government employees.

Currently, House Bill 12-174 is being deliberated in the senate floor which, among others, seeks approval allowing the Public Auditor to grant compensation packages above the ceiling prescribed in the Compensation Adjustment Act.