Previous Story
‘No matching requirement for new CIP funds
|
Posted on Aug 25 2008
Washington Rep. Pete A. Tenorio has disputed a claim that local matching funds for capital improvement funds are still required, saying: “I can unequivocally state that there is no longer a local matching requirement for new Capital Improvement Project funds.”
Tenorio was responding to delegate candidate Felipe Atalig’s statement in the local papers on Aug. 22, claiming that local matching funds for Covenant Section 702 Capital Improvement Funds are still required.
In a statement issued yesterday, Tenorio said: “I do not normally respond to critic’s comments, especially politically motivated ones, but occasionally when those comments are untrue and such disinformation may be potentially harmful to the people of the CNMI, I feel that as your elected Resident Representative more familiar with the Covenant and our relationship with the Federal Government, I must respond accordingly.”
Under the Special Representatives Agreement signed on Dec. 17, 1992, the CNMI was required to provide an equal local match for every dollar of CIP funds it gets from the federal government. Congress extended this matching requirement through FY 2003 with U.S. Public Law 106-113. This law also provided only $5.42 million to the CNMI for Fiscal Year 2003.
“However, through the combined efforts of Gov. Juan N. Babauta and myself, we were able to increase the FY 2003 appropriation to $11 million, and the funds represented by the increase over $5.42 million did not require a match. Additionally, the 702 Agreement signed by OIA Deputy Assistant Secretary David Cohen and Lt. Gov. Diego Benavente on February 9, 2004, did not include a local match requirement,” said Tenorio.
“Unfortunately when the local matching requirement was removed, it did not eliminate the prior local matching funds requirement under the old Future Federal Financial Assistance executed in 1992. Therefore, today when our government expends CIP funds appropriated prior to FY 2003, it must spend the local matching dollars first, even if the federal funds have been reprogrammed,” added Tenorio. [B][I](PR)
[/I][/B]
