By Gerardo R. Partido
Variety News Staff

THE administration’s funding allotments to the various government of Guam agencies were criticized during yesterday’s oversight hearing on GovGuam’s finances.
Vice Speaker Edward J.B. Calvo, R-Maite and chairman of the finance committee, reviewed various GovGuam agencies’ funding allotments as of March 13 and found that most agencies had already been given more than half of their allotments.
“We are only six months into the fiscal year and many agencies have already been given more than 50 percent of their funding allotments,” Calvo pointed out.
Among these agencies are the Department of Public Works, 82 percent of total allotment; the governor’s office, 82 percent; the Ancestral Lands Commission, 65 percent; and the Civil Service Commission, 68 percent.
Calvo wondered how the administration could speed up the allotments to these agencies given the current financial difficulties of the government.
“The allotments should be given based on the expected revenues. But now that the revenues estimated to come in are down, how can allotments be up for many agencies? The allotments are tracking upward, not downward,” Calvo said.
But Bureau of Budget and Management head Carlos Bordallo said the administration has the authority to transfer funds when needed and that when taken overall, only 37 percent of allotments to various agencies have been released.
The governor’s chief of staff, George Bamba, also explained that allotments for certain agencies were up because of pressing needs that were not included in their original appropriation.
DPW, for instance, had a high allotment rate because it needed to launch several projects to comply with the federal consent decree.
“The governor’s office also had various expenses such as legal fees,” Bamba said.
Bordallo added that some agencies with high allotments had lower budgets to begin with.
The highly anticipated oversight hearing was delayed by nearly an hour after the administration asked for more time to prepare its presentation.
When the hearing started, Sen. Rory Respicio, D-Agana Heights, also asked that the administration officials be sworn in, just like witnesses in a court case.
“We have been given misinformation during previous meetings with the administration,” Respicio said.
But Calvo said the oversight hearing was not a criminal case. “And we like to give the administration a chance to work with us collaboratively,” he said.