House Ways and Means to cut $200K from Legislature leadership accounts

Blas Jonathan T. Attao

Members of the House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee agreed Wednesday to slash $100,000 from the leadership accounts of both the House and Senate—for a total of $200,000—in the proposed fiscal year 2024 budget of the CNMI government.

For this fiscal year 2023, the Senate and the House each has $200,000 in their leadership accounts, or a total of $400,000. For fiscal year 2024, both houses are initially allocated the same amount of $200,000 each, for a total of $400,000. Minus $200,000 means that both houses will have $200,000 each in the fiscal year 2024 budget.

Committee vice chair Rep. Blas Jonathan T. Attao (Ind-Saipan) said that, after a Ways and Means Committee meeting on the fiscal year 2024 budget, they understand that that they will be cutting the leadership account by $100,000 for both the House and the Senate.

“…Our speaker is here with us and he’s also in agreement that if the cuts are going to happen here in the Legislature, we can put that into the pot that shall be distributed to other entities,” Attao said.

No one opposed Attao’s motion.

Another cost-cutting proposal is to cut the salaries of Cabinet secretaries that are over the cap, said committee chair Rep. Ralph N. Yumul (Ind-Saipan).

Yumul said they, however, don’t have any rough number for that and if the resident directors for Tinian and Rota are going to be included in the cuts.

Attao said that what Yumul is asking are the statutory salaries of the Cabinet members and if any of them are above their salary schedule. He said there is a statute that placed them in a different salary schedule.

“So if they’re above, what the chairman is saying is that we should consider putting them back to the original salary schedule for all Cabinets, including the municipality Cabinets,” Attao added.

Yumul said he will leave that matter of salaries on the table until they get a rough number from their fiscal analyst of its impact on the budget.

The chairman said by now they have a body of a proposed budget bill and they will have their legislative assistant write up the budget bill and they will return on Monday.

Yumul said the legislative assistant should start writing the budget bill and then they can discuss and move the funds around.

“By now at least we are in agreement with certain provisions. We agreed to the leadership cuts, the statutory salaries,” he said.

Yumul asked their staff to compile the data for statutory salaries, including the salaries for resident directors for Tinian and Rota, before they vote on that matter.

He said they will be discussing other taxes, while they wait for the data to come in.

Yumul said he will be calling for a budget meeting on Monday as soon as they get the draft bill.