House set to begin budget deliberation

The House Ways and Means Committee is expected to hand in a budget package for Fiscal 2000 when the lower house begins its regular session on Feb. 14 for its immediate approval, according to its chairman.

Rep. Antonio M. Camacho said that while there will be some changes in the proposal submitted by the administration, the bill will have to stay within its $207 million spending level.

He stressed that priority programs, such as the scholarship, medical referral and the public safety, will receive additional funding once the committee has trimmed appropriations from other agencies and streamlined government operations.

“We are leaning towards increasing their budget but we have to identify some operations that are idle before we can act on their requests,” Mr. Camacho told in an interview.

Tasked with the budget review, the Ways and Means Committee has been conducting meetings with key agencies and departments for the past two weeks to determine whether they can live with what the administration has allotted to them.

So far, the panel has met with the Public School System, the Departments of Public Health, Lands and Natural Resources, Commerce and Finance. It will soon hold budget discussion with the Department of Public Safety.

The Senate Fiscal Affairs Committee is part of some of the meeting in an effort to hasten passage of the budget bill in both houses, which has already been delayed for the past four months.

A holdover from the 11th Legislature, the proposed fiscal budget failed to get committee support after members fought over how to distribute the amount which represents a two percent reduction from the FY 99 spending level.

Although most agencies and departments have been asking for bigger share of the budget, Mr. Camacho said it will all depend whether the Legislature can point other sources of revenues to provide them additional funding.

“Everybody is asking for additional money. If we have the money, we will provide them the essentials — the things they need and not they want,” he explained.

The committee chair did not provide details on what changes they will do on the budget proposal, but said they will not veer away from the allocation made by Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio.

Due to the absence of the approved budget, the government is currently running under continuing resolution, which means that agencies are following the appropriation level of the previous year.

The Legislature approved the FY 99 budget at $240 million, although the governor later cut it by 13.4 percent because of declining revenue collections in light of the worsening economic crisis confronting the island.

Finance officials are not projecting increase in the revenues for the next few months until September when FY 2000 ends, thus the need to pass the budget in a bid to prevent serious deficit.

“We are trying to have the package ready for our session,” said Mr. Camacho. “We have this mutual understanding with the Senate that we will get together when we package the budget.”