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CUC projects an $11.3 million budget deficit
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Posted on Sep 21 2004
With only nine days left before the end of the fiscal year, the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. yesterday projected an $11.3 million budget deficit.
In response, the CUC board of directors approved a supplemental budget of $5.1 million and the reprogramming of $2.4 million from the corporation’s FY 2004 personnel budget.
CUC budget officer Betty Terlaje said some $5.1 million is available from lapses in previous years’ budgets and grant reimbursements. Another $2.4 million can also be reprogrammed from lapses in this year’s personnel allocation due to unfilled full-time positions, among others.
“We’ve implemented all practical austerity measures. This deficit is really beyond our control,” Terlaje said during the board’s special meeting.
The management initially asked the board to approve a supplemental budget of $11.3 million, including the $2.4 million for reprogramming, to cover the entire projected deficit.
The board, however, declined to grant the amount requested and approved only the amount that has been determined as available.
Nevertheless, Terlaje maintained that the actual shortfall by the end of this month may still go lower than the current $3.8 million, as CUC anticipates more revenues to come in.
She added that funding from CUC’s operations account would become available, when the CUC executive director cancels some of the earmarked projects that have not been undertaken.
In approving the supplemental budget, CUC board member Joe Torres stressed that the management should not only reduce expenditures, but also collect the corporation’s estimated $15 million receivables.
