Senate gives Teno full hand to manage funds

In the wake of their disagreement with the Senate on the budget, the lower house yesterday moved to grant full power to Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio to manage cash resources of the government for the next nine months.

This will supplant passing the FY 2001 budget by both houses, which has remained in deadlock following the failure to reach a compromise on how to divide the $221.66 million estimated revenues for this year.

The House adopted HJR 12-17 at the start of its regular sessions yesterday that will provide full reprogramming authority to the governor to distribute the money among various departments and agencies, dashing hopes by the Senate to resume the budget talks.

Further discussions would only prove futile, according to House Ways and Means Committee chair Rep. Antonio M. Camacho, citing differences on key appropriation items in the proposed spending measure.

Among them were the Senate’s insistence to fund separate Marianas Visitors Authority offices on Rota and Tinian, and the budget allocation for each of the island municipalities which senators said were non-negotiable.

“Having reached an impasse… it is necessary to grant the governor full reprogramming authority with the widest possible latitude to meet the critical demands on public revenues,” stated the committee in its report to the House.

In the absence of an approved budget, the government is forced to run under continuing resolution based on the spending limit of a previously passed measure — in this case the FY 1998 budget.

Since the spending level then was originally pegged at $240 million and later trimmed to $216 million amid decline in revenues, the Legislature has to provide flexibility to the governor on how to appropriate the $221.66 million for this year.

Under the proposal, which will still need approval of the Senate before it takes effect, the local chief executive can exercise his power to allocate funds in excess of the 25 percent quarterly allotment to key agencies and departments.

This will allow him to shift money from less-critical offices in order to address the needs of others, such as in hiring personnel and in purchasing of equipment and supplies.

The authority will cover expenditures for personnel beyond the ceiling established in 1998, subject only to legislative approval, according to the resolution offered by Mr. Camacho.

Among the departments expected to benefit from this power are the Public School System which has appealed to lawmakers for additional funds and personnel to accommodate new schools that have opened in recent months, as well as the Department of Public Safety for more police officers.

Differences on how to distribute the cash revenues have come to mark the budget process in the Legislature for the past few years, mainly due to decline in the amount amid jostling for bigger share that has made it only difficult to reach a consensus among lawmakers.