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ON PALACIOS’ CALL FOR REDUCTION OF WORK HOURS:
‘We have yet to cross that bridge’
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Posted on Mar 27 2023
The Legislature has yet to make any decision on the call of Gov. Arnold I. Palacios for the Legislature to cut employees’ work schedule as part of cost-containment measures
In response to Saipan Tribune’s inquiry about a possible cut in work hours, Senate President Edith E. DeLeon Guerrero (D-Saipan) said over the weekend that the Senate Fiscal Affairs Committee is still busy working on the fiscal year 2023 modified budget.
“We have yet to cross that bridge and when we do, it will be decided before the passage of the modified budget,” she said.
The Senate president noted that the target date of the 72-hour work schedule is April 24, 2023, which makes it a little over five months in diminished payroll expenses for the rest of the fiscal year, which she said is quite a significant change from the initial plan of March 1, 2023.
Legislative Bureau director Perry P. Tenorio stated in his recent report on the revisions to the fiscal year budget law that, unless there is a downturn in local revenue, the bureau does not anticipate any reduction in their personnel’s work hours. One hundred percent of the bureau’s personnel cost is funded by local funds.
Tenorio said that Palacios’ revision to the fiscal year 2023 budget law spare the bureau and the CNMI Youth Congress from any cuts.
Palacios recently announced the cutting down of work schedule of some Executive Branch employees to just 72 hours starting April 24, 2023, and through the end of the fiscal year, which is Sept. 30, 2023.
Citing that the fiscal challenges the CNMI faces impact the whole government and the community, the governor urged the Legislature and Judiciary, as well as autonomous agencies of the government, to similarly implement cost-containment measures, particularly with respect to operations or personnel that were funded in whole or in part by the American Rescue Plan Act.
