By Gerardo R. Partido
Variety News Staff

DUE to the government of Guam’s current financial problems, one lawmaker has sponsored a resolution asking the U.S. Congress to amend Guam’s Organic Act.
Sen. Adolpho Palacios, D-Ordot/Chalan Pago, has introduced Resolution 17, requesting Congress to incorporate a balanced budget provision within the Organic Act of Guam.
The provision would restrict any operating expenses from exceeding the revenues collected for any particular fiscal year.
According to the senator, this balanced budget requirement would impose the same restrictions that exist in 24 other state constitutions, and eight additional state mandates, and would force the government of Guam to live within its financial means, while ensuring that expenses do not exceed revenues in any given fiscal year.
Had this balanced budget provision existed in the Organic Act of Guam today, Palacios said it would force local government leaders, including the Legislature, to make the difficult decisions that would ensure a balanced budget at the end of fiscal year 2007.
According to the senator, this provision is necessary to allow for today’s government leaders and future leaders of Guam to recognize the importance of fiscal responsibility and accountability with the financial resources entrusted to them by the people of Guam.
Under the resolution, the U.S. Congress is requested to incorporate and adopt the following balanced budget provision in the Organic Act of Guam:
“The government of Guam shall be tasked with administering the physical and financial resources of the government of Guam on behalf of the people of Guam. The government of Guam shall operate with an annual balanced operating budget. In any given fiscal year, the government as a whole shall not expend funds or incur financial operating obligations in excess of actual cash receipts for that fiscal year. The government of Guam shall properly track the collection of revenues received on a monthly basis, and shall make appropriate and necessary adjustments where and when deemed essential to ensure a balanced annual operating cash budget in each fiscal year. Long-term debt obligations shall not constitute financial operating obligations within each fiscal year, with the exception of the annualized payment required for meeting such obligations.”