‘Our govt is too big and inefficient’

In the eyes and mind of an 18-year-old senior of Mt. Carmel High School, the government of the CNMI is too big and too inefficient.

Michael Deleon Guerrero was the special guest in yesterday’s Saipan Rotary Club meeting at the Hyatt Regency Saipan, where he again delivered the speech that won him first place in the 22nd Annual Attorney General’s Cup Speech Competition.

The 12th grader bested 10 other bets from both public and private high schools in the CNMI last Friday at the Tinian Dynasty Hotel Casino.

In his speech, Guerrero said he sees the CNMI government as the father of the islands. He said the community needs a father who takes care of his kids. Despite the many economic challenges the islands face, he said it is still the government’s duty to take responsibility and rebuild the economy.

For Guerrero, raising revenue is not the exact problem of the government—overspending is.

He cited that the government is by far the largest employer in the islands and that it tends to solve the problems by adding programs or personnel rather than fixing or replacing what is broken.

Guerrero cited data from the Office of Management and Budget, showing that in 1993, the local government spent about $250 million to employ 4,500 people; 10 years later, the government spent $350 million to employ about 5,500 people.

“That’s an extra $100 million to hire an extra 1,000 people,” he said. He added that it is too much money because it amounts to a total of $100,000 per new employee.

Guerrero suggested that at least three measures are needed to solve the problems he mentioned.

He said a systematic desk audit is one option. The desk audit would accomplish two things: a leaner and more efficient government, and assessment of actual cost of public services.

“A desk audit may help determine how much we should pay for certain public services, as well as right size the government to its proper size,” he said.

His second recommendation is to privatize more government services. He said the Marpi landfill has become a well-run landfill that is both efficient and cost-effective.

Guerrero also said the privatization of the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. could be an option. Fuel cost, he said, has risen since the 1990s but CUC’s rates have stayed the same. “This is just bad business,” he said, referring to CUC as being in “financial trouble.”

Third, Guerrero said the CNMI needs a results-oriented type of governance. Allocation of budget would be based on results, not “good intentions.” He said the government needs to evaluate programs not for what they propose to do, but for what they actually accomplish. This means funding programs that work, not the ones they “hope to work,” he added

He said these three approaches could help the government address its main weakness—overspending.

Guerrero’s win in the Attorney General’s Cup Speech Competition was the fourth consecutive year a Mt. Carmel student took home the award and fifth overall the past 22 years.