Fitial asks for $159.06M

Gov. Benigno Fitial is requesting a budget of $159.06 million for Fiscal Year 2010, a slight increase from the spending limit for 2009, thanks to a small anticipated boost from the U.S. economic stimulus funds.

The $15 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act the Fitial administration expects to get will help offset the loss of fees related to Public Law 110-229, which extends U.S. immigrations laws to the CNMI beginning Nov. 28. The law means a loss of $7.6 million in labor and immigration fees and $6.1 million in one-time transfers, for a total of $13.7 million.

Initial requests made by individual departments exceeded projected resources by $20 million, so the governor is asking the Legislature to enact cost-cutting provisions. He is asking for reduced work hours or work days across the board; the employer contribution rate to remain at 11 percent; reducing “all other” funds for non-essential services by 20 percent; and limiting personnel hiring to essential services only.

Esther Fleming, the governor’s special assistant for administration, said the administration is asking for a 20 percent cut with the austerity measures. This comes out to a 16-hour reduction each pay period or, simply, a four-day workweek. Essential services are excluded from the austerity measures. Further, the governor wants 100 percent reprogramming authority.

“I think that will allow the governor to move funds around, especially when we have such meager resources,” Fleming said at a news briefing.

The Legislature has been hesitant to enact cost-cutting measures for this fiscal year.

But, Fleming said, that might be changing.

“They’re beginning see there is a great need,” she said. “We’ve always been discussing this from the very beginning.”

Fleming and Finance Secretary Eloy Inos were to meet with some lawmakers yesterday about an austerity measure bill currently in the House that would enact unpaid holidays and austerity Fridays.

Although the submission to the Legislature fulfills the budget requirement, Fitial said he intends to follow it up with a more precise plan once the results of the stimulus funds become certain.

“We are optimistic about the economic benefits to be derived from the federal stimulus programs and I look forward to working closely with you to make it a reality,” he wrote in the submission.

The Department of Finance estimates gross budgetary resources to reach $162.82 million in Fiscal Year 2010, which runs from Oct. 1, 2009, to Sept. 30, 2010.

However, some $4.65 million of this amount is earmarked for tobacco control, solid waste management, and Commonwealth Utilities Corp.’s debt to MPLT. In addition, $7.67 million will go to payment of debts.

The FY 2010 revenue estimate represents a net increase of $2.416 million or 1.6 percent over the current mid-fiscal year estimate.

The total operating budget is $159.06 million. Of that, $8.56 million will come from non-general fund resources, like Compact Impact funds and expense transfers to certain special and revolving funds. The remaining balance of $150.5 million will be funded through appropriations from the general fund.

Essential services account for about 60 percent of the budget:

The remaining 40 percent is allocated for other activities including the Legislative and Judicial branches, as well as the Executive branch, independent agencies, and board and commissions.