By Gerardo R. Partido
Variety News Staff

THE clock is ticking on a new fiscal year 2007 budget as the administration failed to submit its proposed changes yesterday.
Vice Speaker Eddie Calvo, R-Maite and the head of the finance committee, said the Legislature’s hands are tied and senators can do nothing without first getting a copy of the revised budget that the governor wants adopted.
“Every day of delay is costly. There is not much time to begin with and each day of delay doesn’t move GovGuam any closer to solutions to its financial problems,” Calvo said.
Last week, the governor’s office said a revised FY 2007 budget will be submitted by the administration on Monday that will detail the administration’s plan to cut costs and increase revenues.
But according to Calvo, the administration informed the Legislature at the last minute that it needs more time and will most likely be able to submit its financial plan this Thursday.
An outline of the fiscal recovery plan submitted by the administration last week called for the raising of fees and an immediate cash infusion of $34 million to meet ongoing operations and payroll requirements.
If the cash infusion is not met, the administration warned that it may have to start laying off GovGuam workers next month.
“That’s less than two weeks from now. It’s really up to the governor whether he will furlough employees because that’s not our function. It’s his call,” the vice speaker said.
In the meantime, Calvo said the Legislature needs at least a couple of days to go over the details of the governor’s financial plan because the outline presented last week lacked details.
The administration, for instance, did not give specifics on which fees were going to be raised and where it will get the $34 million cash infusion.
“It’s up to the administration whether they can extend the deadline for the cash infusion so that we don’t have to resort to furloughing GovGuam employees,” Calvo stressed.
Yesterday’s session of the Legislature was supposed to have focused on the governor’s fiscal recovery plan.
But because the administration was not able to submit its plan, senators instead opted to discuss a variety of resolutions including one that petitions Congress to include Guam in the list of jurisdictions eligible for radiation exposure claims.