Edwin Propst
HOUSE Floor Leader Edwin Propst attributed the lifting of an austerity measure by Gov. Arnold I. Palacios to “effective spending controls and enhanced tax enforcement.”
The governor’s announcement means that over 700 executive branch employees “will finally get their 80-hour pay period restored, after nearly two years of austerity cuts and sacrifice,” Propst said.
But he also reiterated the governor’s statement that the government is “not totally out of the woods yet, financially.”
Still, Propst said, the government has seen enough improvements in its fiscal condition that Finance Secretary Tracy B. Norita felt comfortable to inform the governor that he could reasonably afford to lift at least one austerity measure.
Propst said the Department of Finance’s fourth quarter statement for fiscal year 2024 indicated “overall increases in business gross revenue, income, hotel occupancy, and excise tax collections and projections.”
Propst also said that “new revenues” are anticipated from the construction tax measure that the Legislature approved last week.
He said the government is expected to “execute new funding instruments that will provide additional cash flow relief to the general fund.”
“In the spirit of Thanksgiving, it is worth taking the time to reflect on the events that forced Gov. Arnold I. Palacios and Lt. Gov. David M. Apatang to impose austerity measures in the first place,” Propst said.
He added: “The previous administration squandered hundreds of millions of dollars in lavish spending and sweetheart deals — funding that should have been available to support and stabilize government operations these past two years. The Palacios-Apatang administration inherited a huge fiscal disaster and deficit, and had to move quickly and decisively to cut costs, raise revenues, and get the government’s financial house in order.”
Propst said the “hard work and sacrifice have paid off, and revenue projections and collections have improved. The administration’s critics may complain about the timing of the decision to restore [work hours] for public servants. But the real ‘political ploy’ is in the obvious attempts to ignore — or deny — who is ultimately responsible for forcing the austerity in the first place.”
According to Propst, “We all wish our government had been in a better financial position so that the Palacios-Apatang administration could have lifted this austerity measure much sooner — or not had to impose austerity at all. But we are thankful that relief can be provided now to the hundreds of public servants and their families who have sacrificed so much for so long. They deserve to be made whole. And it is never the wrong time to do what is right.”
