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Bill gives $200K from excise taxes for tourist sites’ cleanup
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Posted on Dec 03 2011
By Haidee V. Eugenio
Reporter
Reporter
House minority leader Joseph Deleon Guerrero (R-Saipan) wants $200,000 in excise taxes to be set aside yearly to fund the cleanup and maintenance of tourist sites.
Deleon Guerrero, along with seven other House members, introduced House Bill 17-237 to establish an account and set aside $200,000 to allow the Division of Parks and Recreation to fund the landscape, cleanup and maintenance of tourist spots in the CNMI.
“Recent cuts in budgets have reached a point where tourist sites are no longer being properly maintained. Garbage at tourist sites from off-site private residential and commercial sources is also becoming more common – to a point where trash bins and receptacles at these sites are unable to store the refuse properly,” said Deleon Guerrero in his bill.
He proposes that $200,000 in excise taxes shall be reserved each fiscal year. This sum shall be deposited into an account established as the Division of Parks and Recreation Tourist Site Maintenance Revolving Fund to be expended solely by the director of the Division of Parks and Recreation under the Department of Lands and Natural Resources.
Such fund, the bill says, shall not be reprogrammed for any other purpose.
