$42K for patients and programs, $67.5K in retro pay on Tinian

Acting governor Eloy S. Inos signed yesterday into local law a bill appropriating $42,000 in poker license fees for Tinian patients and programs, while Tinian Mayor Ramon Dela Cruz’s office also released yesterday some $67,500 in partial retroactive salary payments to 135 municipal employees.

Inos signed House Local Bill 17-72 Draft 1 into Tinian Local Law 17-11, giving $21,000—the bulk of the total $42,000—for the monthly subsistence allowance of Tinian patients on dialysis and those with cancer, multiple sclerosis, debilitating epilepsy seizure disorder, dermatomytositis, and post-cerebral vascular accident patients.

The other $5,000 was appropriated to the Tinian Mayor’s Office for emergency medical referral assistance.

The remaining $16,000 was also appropriated to the Tinian Mayor’s Office to defray the cost of the Little League Program district tournament, $5,000; the Aging Program’s May 2012 trip to Guam, $3,000; and for the mayor’s office operations, $8,000.
Rep. Trenton Conner (R-Tinian) authored the local bill.

The Tinian Mayor’s Office also issued yesterday the second 14-percent retroactive salary payments, from 9:30am to 4:30pm.

Dela Cruz, in a phone interview, said they issued $500 each to 135 municipal employees covered by retroactive salary laws.

“This retroactive salary payment is the responsibility of the CNMI central government, but my administration, the Tinian municipal government and its local leaders are taking it upon themselves to fulfill this obligation for the people who have waited for this for far too long,” he told Saipan Tribune.

Conner, in a separate interview, said the Tinian leadership is fulfilling a campaign promise.

“Everyone benefits if we all work together. The mayor is right, this is a CNMI central government responsibility but the Tinian leadership is the one taking the initiative to fulfill that responsibility,” he added.

Conner and Dela Cruz said the Tinian mayor’s office, the Tinian Legislative Delegation and the Tinian Municipal Council will continue to make available funds to gradually pay all outstanding retroactive salaries as funds are identified and appropriated.

“Five hundred dollars is a small amount for some but these days, that amount could go a long way to help families. Every time we pay vendors and pay the salaries of our employees and there are leftover funds, we put that into an account to make sure it goes to the payment of retroactive salaries. This is the second time we made partial payments, when we had more collections from casino revenues, for example,” the mayor added.