By Moneth G. Deposa
Variety News Staff

SEVENTY-THREE staff members of various government agencies and departments have received a pay hike since the Fitial administration took office in January last year, according to documents from the Office of Personnel Management.
Of this figure, 42 are civil service and limited-term employees while 31 are excepted service personnel.
Among those who received huge wage adjustments is an assistant public defender — from $57,000 to $70,000.
An assistant attorney general got a $9,000 pay increase while four staff nurses received adjustments ranging from $4,000 to $8,000.
A community health specialist who was named diabetes program manager got a $9,000 salary adjustment last October.
An administrative specialist at the Election Commission was given a $7,000 pay increase in October last year — from $16,000 to $24,000.
Among the civil service and limited-term employees, 22 were each provided a $3,000 pay increase at the Department of Corrections, or from $13,000 to $16,000.
Adjustments because of promotion were also provided to 11 other employees — six from Public Health, one from Finance, one from Labor, and one from the Nutrition Assistance Program.
Their increases ranged from $2,000 to $3,000.
One employee from the Department of Land and Natural Resources was given a merit increase amounting to more than $700.
A staff member of the public library also received an adjustment, from $23,000 to $26,000, in October last year.
Two employees with Fish and Wildlife and a staffer at the hospital were also provided salary increases.
Two individuals with Public Health and DLNR got pay adjustments after they were reclassified to “high class” positions.
Personnel Management Director Mathilda A. Rosario, in her response to Rep. Stanley T. Torres’s inquiry on the matter, said many of the adjustments are provided for federally funded positions.
She said of the 73 individuals who were given pay raises, 14 are funded by various federal programs.
“Many of the adjustments…are annual increases for federally funded positions. In other cases, such as Correction cadets, the increase was to the minimum salary of the correction officer 1 position,” she said in her letter to Torres, Ind.-Saipan.
According to Rosario, Corrections and Public Safety as well as various nursing positions have been exempted from the civil service freeze on salary increases for promotions and reclassifications/reallocations.