‘Give the mayors a free hand to adjust budget’

Lawmakers and officials representing Saipan, Tinian, and Rota yesterday are supporting a proposal to give municipal mayors a free hand adjust their budgets so they could keep their employees.

The proposal to decentralize budget decisions comes on the heels of the Fitial administration’s plan to furlough or terminate the contracts of non-civil service employees in order to cut personnel expenditures this fiscal year.

Rota Sen. Paul Manglona disclosed that nearly a hundred employees on Rota may be affected.

“If the municipality’s shortfall is equivalent to a 10 or 20 percent cut in their budget, I think we need to give each mayor the opportunity to decide where best to cut. If the mayor sees the need to reduce the employees or terminate some, let’s give them that because they know better their operation and priorities,” Manglona said.

Unlike Saipan, Rota lacks employment opportunities for its people, he said.

“Our intention is to give our people jobs that they need for their families. If there are other areas the Rota municipality can adjust on the budget such as supplies and power, we can look at those options,” he said.

Manglona will recommend to Mayor Joseph Inos the possibility of not filling replacement positions, including those who are about to retire within the year.

Salary adjustments such as merits and step-in increases are also among the areas to be considered.

If all these are not feasible, that’s the only time the municipalities can make “sacrifices” such as work hour cuts.

“No matter what the number of hours is…as long as the employees regularly receive an income that’s good enough for them,” he said.

Tinian Legislative Delegation chair Sen. Joseph Mendiola said that reduction of work hours of up to 20 percent may also be recommended to the Tinian Mayor’s Office.

“Our recommendation would be to reduce the work hours. …It becomes a choice between keeping the job and lesser income….and we prefer the less income for our employees because we understand the obligations each family needs to fulfill,” Mendiola said.

For this reason, Mendiola said the Legislature needs to adopt austerity holidays, which calls for the non-key government agencies to shut down operations every other Friday.

Tinian has 139 employees, most of whom the mayor wants to keep at least until September. It was earlier disclosed that some $500,000 to $800,000 is needed to sustain its personnel cost.

“We’re looking at how long we can go. We are carefully evaluating all options,” Tinian Mayor Jose San Nicolas told Saipan Tribune yesterday.

The mayor was earlier eyeing a 60-day furlough for all employees.

On Saipan, Mayor Juan B. Tudela earlier disclosed that he wants to keep all his 64 employees until the end of the fiscal year in September. He is also willing to cut salaries rather than lay off employees.