By Gerardo R. Partido
Variety News Staff

THE Legislature nearly had to face the prospect of a payless payday this Friday as it didn’t receive funds for its payroll until late yesterday afternoon.
Speaker Mark Forbes, R-Sinajana, earlier warned that money had not yet been remitted for the salaries of employees at the Legislature.
The money had to be sent yesterday in order to make it to the employees’ direct deposit accounts by Friday.
Forbes said it takes several days for the money to be routed through the bank where the Legislature’s employees have their direct deposit accounts.
Before the end of the working day yesterday, Forbes said the Legislature received $280,000 from the administration, enough to cover this Friday’s payroll.
If the money had not gotten through, Forbes said the Legislature would have had no choice but to manually cut the checks, which would entail more costs.
But Forbes said the cumulative funding shortfall for the Legislature still stands at about $1.7 million, which is 25 percent of the Legislature’s entire budget for fiscal year 2007.
“And the odds are that they won’t be able to catch up,” Forbes said.
The administration has been finding it difficult to remit funds to several agencies, especially the Guam Public School System, due to financial difficulties.
Forbes said he understands the administration’s current financial difficulties, stressing that the Legislature is willing to make the necessary adjustments if the administration is unable to remit its full funding allocation for FY 2007.
“But they must tell us exactly how much they can afford to send us. We’d appreciate a frank answer from them that tells us how much we can really expect in terms of funding allocation. That way, we can prepare and make the necessary adjustments,” Forbes said.
According to the speaker, the ideal would be for the Legislature to get its full allotment. But if needed, he said the Legislature can sacrifice and cut its budget in light of GovGuam’s financial difficulties.
“We’re willing to do our part because the other agencies are suffering too, especially the public education system,” Forbes said.
In fact, Forbes said, the Legislature is one of the few institutions on island to have a lower budget every year.