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New local law gives $18,000 for Rota patients, scholars
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Posted on Aug 23 2011
Acting governor Eloy S. Inos signed late Monday afternoon a local law appropriating $18,000 in poker funds for Rota patients, scholars and other programs, amid request from Rota Mayor Melchor Mendiola to line item-veto $7,280 for the Rota Municipal Council.
Mendiola told Inos that the $7,280 is “unacceptable” with no benefits to the delivery of public services.
But Inos, in his letter to the Legislature, said the Rota Legislative Delegation assured him that the appropriation is “proper” to address the Rota Municipal Council’s obligations.
The acting governor said that, while he approves the local bill, he reminded the Rota delegation of the mayor’s proposed line-item veto.
“I urge the Rota delegation to work closely with the mayor of Rota to address pressing matters affecting the First Senatorial District,” Inos told Rota Legislative Delegation chair Sen. Juan Ayuyu (Ind-Rota) and House Speaker Eli Cabrera (R-Saipan) in signing Rep. Teresita Santos’s (Ind-Rota) House Local Bill 17-53, Substitute 1.
The local bill is now Rota Local Law 17-15.
Inos commended the Rota delegation for including a reporting requirement in the measure “as previously recommended to ensure accountability of public funds.”
Of the $18,000 in poker and pachinko slot machines’ local license fees, $8,720 will be for nine dialysis and terminally ill patients at $450 each for mid-July and August 2011, and for six dialysis and terminally ill patients at $300 each for mid-July and August 2011.
The total amount also includes $7,280 for the Rota Municipal Council to be divided equally among the three members for operations.
The Rota Municipal Scholarship Foundation under Rota Local Law 17-2 will get $1,000.
Another $1,000 will go toward the retroactive compensation of affected employees under Public Law 7-31 and Rota Local Law 17-2.
