By Moneth G. Deposa
Variety News Staff

REPRESENTATIVE Edwin P. Aldan, said on Friday the plan to cut the Tinian municipality’s workforce due to the budget shortfall has created panic there.
The news was “disturbing,” he said, and some Tinian residents went to the homes of their lawmakers to urge them to re-consider.
During a recent Commonwealth Ports Authority board meeting, the Tinian mayor’s financial consultant, Rex I. Palacios, who is also CPA’s chairman, told reporters that the municipality faces a 40 percent cut in its budget and may have to furlough some of its employees.
The mayor’s office has 263 employees paid under the general fund while 70 persons are paid by Tinian local funds.
Aldan, Covenant-Tinian, said residents fear that they may soon lose their jobs.
“The furlough plan is a very sensitive issue,” he said. “Since it came out in the media, it has people paniced and has created havoc among our residents.”
He said Tinian’s elected officials received phone calls and visitors at their homes seeking assurance that the furlough will not be considered.
Tinian’s lawmakers sought a meeting with the mayor, who also called his financial consultant to ask why the plan was disclosed to the media.
“The statement was made before they met with the (legislative) delegation,” Aldan said. “Our concern was why, as elected officials of Tinian, we have to hear it from the media instead of having it addressed to us first?”
The “panic” on Tinain could have been prevented if the “proper channels” were used by the mayor’s office.
Aldan said during their meeting with Mayor Jose P. San Nicolas, they “cleared the dust” regarding the issue.
Aldan said the legislative delegation will sit down with the governor’s special assistant for management and budget, Antonio Muna, and seek clarification regarding the 40 percent cut before coming up with a position on the cost-cutting options.
“The mayor has informed the delegation that a letter was sent by Mr. Muna instructing his office to look into areas for the 40 percent cut…but before a recommendation is to be made by the delegation, we have to sit down with the administration because the cut is too high for any agency to bear,” Aldan said.
He added that Palacios, as a financial consultant, should know the boundaries of his duties under the mayor’s office.
“I cannot blame our people for their reaction…our concern is that the mayor’s consultant should not make that kind of statement without the concurrence of the delegation,” Aldan said, adding that Palacios’s job is to plan for the finances of the mayor’s office and not to make it public.
Besides the furlough, Palacios said the mayor’s office may also consider tapping unused federal capital improvement project funds and merge offices to save on operational costs.
Last year, over 700 streetlights on island were switched off to save on utility costs. This measure is again being considered.
The municipality’s current budget is $11.2 million.