CPA employees assured of stable working hours until next fiscal year

Commonwealth Ports Authority acting executive director Derek Sasamoto assured all airport and seaport personnel on Saipan, Tinian, and Rota of stable working hours not only until the end of this fiscal year but throughout FY 2013.

Sasamoto, also the agency’s comptroller, said the proposed budget for next fiscal year carries the same 80-hour working schedule for all staff as warranted by the agency’s projected revenues and collections. He declined to disclose figures but is optimistic that these are achievable.

However, the acting executive director pointed out that the CPA budget can be impacted by unexpected challenges that may occur.

“Our operating budget is very turbulent and anything can happen. But no matter what we’re doing, CPA is very cautious on our financial,” he told Saipan Tribune.

Sasamoto said at present, CPA has about 200 employees working at airports and seaports. CPA, he said, has no plans of increasing personnel count but ensures that key vacant positions are being replaced by qualified people.

Among these is the Rota manager position that was left vacant by Thomas Manglona, who was fired from service effective May 9. Sasamoto said an interim official was named by the agency while recruitment process is ongoing.

Sasamoto also said that CPA, as of June 20, remains in full compliance with both airport and seaport bond requirements. The comptroller vowed to keep this status at all times.

It’s been three years now that the ports authority has been meeting and even exceeding the bond requirements for both airport and seaport. This achievement, according to Sasamoto, is something that CPA is very proud of. He also cited the ports authority’s clean audit reports that reflect the financial performance of the agency.

Early this year, Fitch Ratings upgraded the rating on both CNMI seaport and airport revenue bonds. For the airport, rating was positively adjusted from “CCC” to “B-” which means the outlook is graded to stable from negative primarily due to the improvement on the passenger facility charge which was designated as gross revenues of the agency.

For seaport, Fitch accorded an affirmation of its “BB-“ rating and received an upgrade to its outlook from negative to stable also which signifies that seaports are projected to not have difficulties making debt service payments and that cash flows are sufficient to cover debt service through its five-year forecast period.

As a result of improved revenues, the CPA board in February also approved a 5 percent across-the-board salary hike for employees in recognizing their hard work and contributions to the agency.