‘Critical areas need to be addressed’

Sen. Jude U. Hofschneider (R-Tinian) said looking into the totality of the budget proposal submitted by Gov. Ralph DLG Torres would be their primary concern when he meets with House Ways and Means committee chair Rep. Angel A. Demapan (R-Saipan).

Demapan is currently off-island as he attended the funeral of his mother-in-law in Majuro in the Republic of the Marshall Islands and is expected to return to Saipan next week.

“Once he [Demapan] returns, we’re going to sit down and discuss the budget proposal. I just want to reach out to him so we could schedule a meeting,” the Senate Fiscal Affairs committee head told Saipan Tribune.

“We need to see where the impact is. There’s a significant change, an increase of 6 percent from last fiscal year’s budget and this is the result of more business activity. We’re mandated to make sure the money is spent wisely.”

He said the health and life insurance of government employees, the settlement and judgments, and the government’s other obligations are the other areas that need to be addressed.

Hoschneider said they would also verify with Finance [Secretary Larson] as far as the projection [of the budget] itself. We need to look at the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp., the Commonwealth Utilities Corp., and other obligations in utilities of the government.

Torres, however, informed the Legislature, through a letter sent last March 31, that CUC along with the Commonwealth Development Authority failed to submit their respective budget proposals for fiscal year 2018 in time.

Hofschneider also mentioned that Public Law 19-83 or an act to enact a new base salary schedule and increase the salary ceiling for classified civil service government employees, and increasing the salaries of all elected officials is among the least of their priorities

“The legislators’ salary increase, as far as funding sources is concerned, is the least of our priorities right now,” he said.

Torres, however, has allocated $4,096,238.95 for PL 19-83 with $1,245,158.22 for the implementation of Section 4, 1 CMC 8244 (b) for all mayors and Section 5, 1 CMC 1271 adjusting the salaries of each member of the Legislature to $70,000 per annum.

The four municipal mayors would share the amount of $150,665.22 with $737,589 for the 20 members of the House of Representatives, while the nine Senators are allocated $356,904.

Part of the funding for PL 19-83 is the implementation of the starting hourly wages for all civil service and ungraded employees from $6.55 to $7.25 per hour and the conversion of all civil servants to the new pay scale.

Key areas

The expected government activities use $150,114,119. The budget allocation for personnel amounted to $71,692,008, while $69,252,055 for other government obligations, and $4,316,012 for payment of utilities.

Education would get $43,609,630 including $36,465,094 for the Public School System, $188,507 for the CNMI State Board of Education, $4,877,353 for the Northern Marianas College, $124,174 for the NMC Board of Regents, and $200,000 for the CNMI Scholarship.

The government allocated $15,950,394 for its health program with $2,169,318 appropriated for CHCC and $2,123,452 for Medical Referral. Medicaid reimbursements and health insurance are also included in the said amount.

The group health and life insurance for government employees is allocated $14,104,057 a total of $10,877,000 would go to the retirees while the remaining amount of $3,227,057 for the other employees

Another $1 million is reserved for outstanding judgments and settlement claims with Larson, the Finance Secretary, developing the payment plan in consultation from the CNMI Office of the Attorney General in the distribution of the funds.

Budget proposal

Torres’ budget proposal is $145,260,075 after adjustments made for debt service appropriations, earmarked funds, and other legal obligations. The Department of Finance, headed by Secretary Larrisa Larson, reported $236,770,472 in gross budgetary resources.

The gross adjustment includes an allocation of $45,000,000 for the CNMI Settlement Fund. In total, $56,030,504 or 24 percent is set aside for the government’s legal obligations to the Settlement Fund.

The CNMI’s fiscal year 2018 budget increased by 6 percent or $8,234,850 compared to the $142.2 million in the previous fiscal year. The CNMI’s budgetary requests, however, exceeds by $8,288,663.

The business gross revenue tax, income tax, excise taxes, and other taxes (hotel occupancy, bar, and beautification taxes) are the sources of the CNMI’s gross budgetary sources.