By Moneth G. Deposa
Variety News Staff

THE Fitial administration will issue a certification revising the current fiscal year budget of $193.5 million next week, according to Finance Secretary Eloy Inos.
He said “we don’t know yet what the real number is…but it will be lower than $193 million.”
Office of Budget and Management Director Tony Muna earlier said that the government’s projected revenue may have to be reduced by $15 million.
Inos said the reduced revenue projection reflects the recent garment factory closures and other “economic factors.”
The FY 2007 budget was the first passed since 2002.
Inos said the government is now spending less than its $193.5 million budget.
Last week, Reps. Stanley T. Torres, Ind.-Saipan, and Ramon A. Tebuteb, R-Saipan, disclosed that the government had hired 111 additional employees since June despite the administration’s austerity measures.
They said the administration is also paying some of its officials more than the salary cap law allows.
But Press Secretary Charles P. Reyes Jr. said the Office of Personnel and Management believes that the Legislature should clarify the “potential confusion” caused by the statements of Torres and Tebuteb.
“This is not an issue for (the Office of the Personnel Management) or the administration to address because the law is somewhat unclear — it may not explicitly state whether the current compensation structure should be maintained or reduced. The Legislature should step in and pass a bill to lower compensation, if that is what Reps. Torres and Tebuteb desire. They are free to introduce a bill,” Reyes said in an e-mail.