GOVERNOR Ralph DLG Torres on Thursday signed into law House Local Bill 22-4, which appropriates for Tinian $202,996 in earned bond interest income identified by the Commonwealth Development Authority. But he disapproved $62,996 for projects that the local appropriation measure does not identify.
Authored by Rep. Patrick San Nicolas, H.L.B. 22-4 is now Tinian Local Law 22-2.
It appropriates $140,000 of the total amount for the Tinian Marpo Heights and Carolinas Heights village homestead expansion.
The local appropriation bill also proposed to allot $62,996 of the funds for “various municipal capital improvement projects.” The governor vetoed this item.
In his transmittal letter to Sen. Frank Q. Cruz who chairs the Tinian Legislative Delegation, the governor quoted the attorney general as saying that “a more detailed listing of what capital improvement projects are to be funded with the $62,996 should be provided in order to ensure that the funding is properly accounted for in a transparent manner.”
The governor said that because there is no indication of what specific CIPs are to be funded by the appropriation, “I respectfully request that the Tinian…Legislative Delegation appropriate these funds in future legislation with the inclusion of a detailed project list.”
Gov. Ralph DLG Torres, right, with Tinian Mayor Edwin Aldan, left, and the island’s lawmakers.
