THANK you for your articles on the expenditures of the Tinian municipal fund. Unfortunately, there is no public information from the local Tinian administration, so the people of Tinian know no more about what is happening in their government than you report. Thank you very much for helping keep the people of Tinian informed as to how their money is being spent.
Please continue your coverage of Tinian expenditures. The last Tinian municipal budget expired at the end of September, and no new budget has been introduced or heard. It appears that the Tinian Covenant Party leadership, which controls the Office of the Mayor, the Tinian legislative delegation and municipal council, are satisfied to work with a continuing resolution, and not have to conduct a public hearing that would require them to tell how they spent our previous earnings from the casino and what they are using it for now. It is hard to believe that today, three months after a new budget should have been passed, there is still $500,000 still remaining in the old budget. It is also ironic that the president of the Senate could pass a budget for the central government, but could not pass one for the little Tinian municipal budget. However, perhaps that was the responsibility of the chairman of the Tinian delegation, Sen. Henry San Nicolas.
On the subject of the instrument landing system, the trigger mechanism for the development of the casino industry on Tinian, this system is not solely for the economic development of Tinian; it is the most viable economic development opportunity for the commonwealth. It will produce more new revenues for the general fund than any other single option for the CNMI at this time. If anyone be upset by the continued delay in its installation, it should be the members of the Senate Committee on Economic Development and the governor’s office. The construction of the hotels and golf courses on Tinian will far more directly benefit the people of Saipan than they will Tinian, as all those economic development funds go directly to the general fund, of which Saipan get approximately 90 percent. All the expenses of importing labor and materials go to the general fund, not the Tinian municipal fund. The Tinian Municipal Fund doesn’t make a dollar until a new casino opens and someone puts down the first bet. This is a CNMI issue.
Again, please continue coverage of the developing casino industry on Tinian, particularly how its municipal government has spent the people’s money, wisely for the future or not. How much has gone to medical referral, how much to the scholarship fund, how much for collateral equipment at the new Tinian High School, how much for needed supplies at Tinian Elementary School and Northern Marianas College, how much for needed new equipment at the Tinian Health Center? In other words, how much for things all the people really need?

DON A. FARRELL
Marpo Heights, Tinian.