THIS letter clarifies comments made in the June 3 article of Marianas Variety. The article alleges that 18 members of the Office of the Public Auditor, including myself, are seeking pay hikes. It appears that the article was based on OPA’s budget submission for FY 2003.
Upon assuming the position of public auditor in Dec. 2000, one of a number of major tasks I addressed was the mandate of Public Law 10-4 requiring OPA to transition to a qualified resident staff. This law was an extension of a similar one enacted more than 10 years prior to my appointment as public auditor. Last year, to assist OPA in its transition, the Legislature passed P.L. 12-65 to provide OPA with an additional 10 positions over the 39 positions provided under continuing budget authority. In addition, the law authorized OPA some flexibility to offer compensation packages beyond the ceilings in the Compensation Adjustment Act. This was to mitigate against the effect of the strict statutory prohibition against OPA employees earning income outside of the office.
As part of the efforts to develop a full resident staff, OPA recently hired new entry-level, supervisory, and management auditors. While it may appear from our budget submission that the resident auditors are offered increased compensation packages, they are in fact equal to or slightly less than that of existing non-resident and off-island hires. This is because the resident auditors do not receive housing allowances, but instead receive a housing “equivalent” as part of their total compensation package. The fiscal impact of the conversion of off-island housing allowances to on-island housing “equivalent” is actually a net reduction in total compensation, not an increase as the article implies.
OPA is currently authorized to fill 49 FTEs. Presently, only 32 of these positions are filled and the office intends to maintain this staffing level through the end of this and the next fiscal year. This is a reduction from two years ago when OPA had a staff of 38 employees.
With respect to my salary as the public auditor, when I assumed this position I effectively accepted an annual compensation package $15,000 less than that of the former public auditor because I did not avail of certain allowable benefits my predecessor received. Contrary to the implication of the article, I continue to receive the same salary I started with when I began my term as public auditor and am receiving compensation far less than what I am legally authorized to receive.
Over the next few years, OPA will continue to face the challenge of developing a qualified and well-trained resident staff. P.L. 12-65 provides OPA additional flexibility needed to accomplish this. Given the complete prohibition on OPA staff from earning outside income, it is necessary that OPA be able to offer compensation packages to attract qualified residents and to equalize compensation packages with those that are offered to off-island staff. In the year since implementation of OPA’s Intern and Professional Development Program, I am proud to say that the transition is well underway and on schedule. I hope that this clarifies issues with respect to compensation at OPA. At the request of other media representatives, I am providing a copy of this letter to the various on-island media organizations for their information.MICHAEL S. SABLAN
CNMI Public Auditor
Variety replies:
In short, based on OPA’s budget request, you and 17 other OPA employees want to be paid more, as Variety reported—or “alleged” as you term it. The news story never implied anything about your salary. It stated that based on OPA’s budget request, you get $80,000 a year and you want to get $20,000 more. Meanwhile, the economy remains in a slump and the government is still cash-strapped. There are, however, pending OPA audits involving the personnel expenses of the administration and certain lawmakers. PSS and MVA can’t get the budget they want, but something tells me OPA probably would—zd.
