Mendiola: No need to veto budget bill

With Compact Impact money going entirely to the Public School System, plus a budget increase of about $3 million for PSS in 2005, there is no reason at all to veto the appropriation bill for fiscal year 2005, according to Senate fiscal committee chair Joseph Mendiola, noting that a veto would be “bad for other programs.”

“I hope the governor approves the budget bill, that he doesn’t veto it because of PSS. I believe doing that is bad for other programs,” he said.

Gov. Juan N. Babauta had threatened to veto any budget bill that does not raise the PSS budget from the present $37.2 million to at least $42 million.

The PSS originally requested for $45 million funding for FY 2005; the administration submitted a $41.9 million request to the Legislature. The conference committee approved $38 million for PSS plus a $1.5 million additional funding out of the $50 labor fee increase for nonresident workers.

“It’s almost $40 million for PSS. I believe it’s acceptable. You see, it’s not only PSS that needs additional funding,” said Mendiola.

On the issue of the $4 million utilities payment appropriation, he said they arrived at the figure given the claim by the central government that it is being overcharged by the Commonwealth Utilities Corp.

During a recent hearing, he said that administration officials testified that about 50 percent of the $11 million outstanding debt with CUC is “overcharge.”

Finance Secretary Fermin Atalig said that the governor may veto altogether or line-item veto the $217.7 million proposed budget on two areas: PSS funding and utilities payment.

He said that the Legislature only appropriated $4 million for utility payments in FY 2005 when the government’s actual need is about $8 million. In the last appropriation, he said that the funding was $5 million.

Mendiola said the strict implementation of energy saving measures must be enforced among all government offices.

“Offices can still bring down the electricity costs. People just need to be mindful of their uses,” said the senator.

Meantime, the governor, who reportedly received the transmittal letter on the budget bill last Friday, has 20 days to decide whether to approve or disapprove it.

The administration originally asked for $226 million as its budget for FY 2005 but the Legislature only approved $213 million, an amount that was recently raised to $218 million following the submission of additional funding projections.

This developed as Babauta announced Friday that he would commit the $5.1 million annual Compact Impact funding for the CNMI entirely to PSS in the next four years.

Aside from the local appropriation and the Compact funds, PSS also receives federal grants annually amounting to some $26 million.