Previous Story
Yumul questions allocation of CW funds to NMI Labor Dep’t
An item in the proposed government budget for fiscal year 2016 allocating Commonwealth worker fee funds to the Department of Labor needs to be “clarified.”
Rep. Ralph Yumul (Ind-Saipan) said the government needs to disclose why the funds are being allocated and will be administered by the Secretary of Labor. The labor department might also want to clarify the budget allocation, he added.
Yumul cited a provision in the budget that states, “This proposal allocates the sum of $1.7 million in Commonwealth Worker Fee Funds to be administered by the Secretary of Labor under the Office of the Secretary.”
The budget proposal also said the “funds are restricted solely for the purpose of ongoing vocational educational curricula and program developments by Commonwealth educational entities.”
In the previous year, the administration of Gov. Eloy S. Inos directly administered the CW funds.
In 2014, the Inos administration gave the Public School System and the Northern Marianas College $500,000 each in CW fees. That same year, the government also gave $400,000 to the Northern Marianas Training Institute from the same CW funds.
“This [CW funds administration] needs further clarification,” Yumul said.
Members of the House of Representatives have started reviewing the proposed $145.8 million spending plan submitted by Inos on April 1. The budget represents an increase of $11.5 million, or 8.55 percent, from the budget of the previous fiscal year.
The budget was derived from the gross budgetary resources reported by the Department of Finance for fiscal year 2016 at $183.55 million.
Of that amount, 37 percent ($68 million) comes from business gross revenue tax, while 21 percent ($38 million) comes from income taxes.
Excise taxes contributed 18 percent ($32.4 million) of the gross budget, while “other taxes” pitched in 13 percent ($24.6 million).
Licenses and fees contributed 7 percent ($13.3 million), while charges for services and other revenue contributed 4 percent ($7.2 million) combined.
