Been there, done that, don’t tell anyone
THE CNMI government is staring at a potential $20 million shortfall this fiscal year, and so House members last week spoke about many things that have absolutely nothing to do with the problem at hand. It is as if they’re in a living room where an elephant is unabashedly relieving itself, but their main topic of discussion was furniture.
House members talked about forming a “working group,” “beefing up enforcement,” imposing “harsher” penalties on stores that violate the sales receipts law, the need for training and SOPs and, of course, hiring new personnel. Exactly the same “solutions” mentioned by previous elected officials every time the government found itself in a tight financial spot.
There was, again, no mention that the cause of the Commonwealth’s perennial funding crisis is the government’s gargantuan size and overspending habits. Its insatiable appetite for funding far surpasses its ability to generate revenue, which is clearly evident whenever the local economy is in the gutter as it is now.
But who wants to talk about that? It is much better (and safer) to mouth platitudes and recycle previous legislative “solutions” that are as “effective” as the anti-littering and other laws.
Consider, for example, the proposal to create a “working group” — like the “working teams” formed by the CNMI Fiscal Response Summit participants in April 2020 when the government faced deficits as high as $64.8 million in FY 2020 and $85.2 million in FY 2021 with no immediate relief in sight because of the global pandemic restrictions. All three branches of government and business community leaders participated in the summit. The federal government, for its part, provided technical assistance, including financial experts.
And what do you think prevented what could have been an apocalyptic financial meltdown?
A massive federal bailout in the form of ARPA and similar Covid-related funds. Which is just as well because nothing came out of the working teams’ proposals but press releases, speeches and patting each other’s backs.
Incidentally, several members of the Fiscal Summit’s working teams are now in top government positions. They’re in charge now. Apparently, no one among them remembers the cost-cutting measures recommended by the Fiscal Summit such as the 64-hour work schedule, furloughs, the consolidation of departments and programs, reducing the size of the Legislature, a reduction in professional services and “all other” expenditures, reforming leave policies and pay.
“This is something that our Commonwealth should have done a long time ago,” said the then-lt. governor, who is now the governor, referring to Fiscal Summit and its recommendations. That was almost four years ago.
Incidentally
ANOTHER House member said members of the public should stop demanding too much from the government if they don’t want to pay more taxes. In the present situation, however, it is the government that wants more from taxpayers because it refuses to do what the private sector is already doing: cut costs. It was the government — its executive and legislative branches — that came up with the current FY 2024 budget whose first quarter revenue is off by $5 million. Will the government start spending $5 million less from now on? No way, as the House members, more or less said, last week. They want taxpayers to pick the tab, again.
What could “solve” the government’s, self-inflicted financial problems? A significant improvement in tourist arrivals.
As the governor himself told the U.S. Government Accountability Office, “[O]ur region remains at risk of a severe economic crisis with limited prospects of recovery. Challenges such as the struggling tourism industry and the decision to shift away from the Chinese market pose significant hurdles to economic revival.”
Wait. Who made the decision a year ago to “shift away” from China, the CNMI’s second largest tourism market?
