Where’s the ARPA report?
IT’S been over a year since the new administration promised to provide the public with a full accounting of the CNMI government’s ARPA expenditures.
Prior to ARPA, at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, the CNMI government was facing budget deficits amounting to $64.8 million in fiscal year 2020, $85.2 million in FY 2021, and $36.9 million in FY 2022. (See “CNMI Fiscal Response Summit” report.) The FY 2022 figure was based on the assumption that the tourism industry would recover during that period. Well, it didn’t, and it still hasn’t.
Will there be an ARPA report, finally? The public would want to know: How were the ARPA funds spent exactly? How much went to what branches, departments, agencies, programs, municipalities, offices, services? How much for personnel? How much for operations? Of the $17 million in BOOST program funds, how much went to legitimate businesses and/or non-profits? How much went to questionable applicants? And how much of the grant awards could be considered, well, fishy?
Or is it more politically convenient for the current leadership to just denounce their predecessors’ “questionable use of federal dollars” whenever they have to talk about the dismal state of the government’s financial condition under their leadership?
Urgent, they say
MORE than a week ago, the governor announced that he, the lieutenant governor, the Senate president and the House speaker were “addressing the urgent fiscal challenges facing the CNMI.” Excise and business gross revenue tax collections in the second quarter of the current fiscal year are down. By how much? The governor didn’t say, but he added that the government revenue forecast for FY 2024 “will need to be revised downward….” In other words, budget cuts — or a renewed effort to raise taxes and fees.
The governor says we need to “work together.” But that depends on the task he has in mind. If it’s “working together” to raise taxes and fees, then no.
Meanwhile, businesses are finding more ways to cut costs in light of the islands’ current economic reality. They’re “streamlining” or downsizing their operations. Some have reduced their work-hours and even their workforce.
For its part, the CNMI government — with its duplicative, overlapping and redundant departments, divisions, bureaus, offices, agencies, program and services — is still talking about its “urgent fiscal challenges.”
Regarding the IPI settlement offer
THE governor said he rejected IPI’s settlement offer because the casino investor wanted to pay $15 million only of the over $60 million in unpaid fees it owes the CNMI government. Fine.
But IPI also said that it was willing to pay a total of $50 million and leave the island. What about that offer? Is it acceptable to the governor?
Of course, the CNMI government should also find out if the $50 million exists and can be remitted to the Commonwealth. If — a big if — true, then surely that offer is worthy of consideration considering the CNMI government’s increasingly untenable financial condition.
Again, it all depends on whether IPI can truly pay $50 million, preferably ASAP. The alternative is more litigation, which means spending more government resources and time on an endeavor whose end result could be a worthless promissory note.
