Inos told reporters yesterday that with only $120 million in projected revenue, providing PSS with the same budget level for FY 2012 will be a challenge.
He noted that the maintenance of effort, or MOE, in FY 2011 was required by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act which provided funds to the CNMI.
Now that the MOE will end this year, the CNMI government will have to fund PSS based on the percentage provided for in the CNMI Constitution, which is 15 percent, Inos said.
Under the FY 2011 budget, PSS received $31 million, an amount that is in compliance with MOE.
Variety learned that PSS proposes $36 million budget for FY 2012, which is more than 15 percent of the projected $120 million for the fiscal year.
Inos said the PSS budget will come from local funds.
“So the question is [how much]?” he asked.
“We used to have $132 million. Now, we don’t have that amount so you know it’s going to be leaner,” he said.
