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$1M OK’d for NMC repairs
House lawmakers directed yesterday local scholarship money to fund about $1 million in repairs to the damaged Northern Marianas College campus after Typhoon Soudelor tore off building roofs, left facilities inoperable, and exposed rooms to rain and mold last month.
House Local Bill 19-10 will give $1 million to NMC to repair its damaged buildings, according to Rep. Joseph “Lee Pan” Guerreo (R-Saipan), author of the amendment that moved the $1 million to NMC. It will require the college president to submit quarterly reports on the use of these funds. It also sets the college president as the expenditure authority.
“It was very precise, and it’s not reprogrammable,” Guerrero told Saipan Tribune.
The bill did not pass without lengthy debate over the source of the $1 million—lapsed funds belonging to the Saipan Higher Education Financial Assistance Program.
Discussion took most of the Saipan and Northern Island Delegation’s time before lawmakers passed the bill unanimously.
“According to Finance, they had over $4 million of lapsed funds,” said Guerrero after the session.
“I truly agree with the chairman of SHEFA on the importance of giving additional funding to the kids,” Guerrero said, noting reports that SHEFA may require students to attend NMC for the first year of college, and also possibly raise semester scholarships from $800 to $1200.
“…But NMC is in a state of calamity right now with the damaged roof for a couple of their buildings,” Guerrero said. “If NMC cannot repair that, what kind of schooling will be imposed on the kids?”
“Absent the repairs to those buildings, is the safety of NMC students going to be compromised? I think so. Those buildings need to be repaired.”
“We are only asking the chairman be mindful of the state of condition NMC is in,” Guerrero added.
The bill also moves funds to the Board of Parole and the Precinct 5 basketball court.
NMC officials and the SHEFA board chairman were present during yesterday’s session. The college presented footage showing their damaged campus.
NMC earlier reported that out of the 18 buildings that sustained damage from the storm, four are inoperable.
