Edwin Aldan
TINIAN Mayor Edwin P. Aldan is asking the Department of Finance to remit the island’s share of the hotel occupancy tax or HOT.
On Thursday, he sent Finance Secretary Tracy B. Norita a second follow-up letter, requesting the transfer of HOT funds in the amount of $25,000 to the municipality of Tinian’s bank account.
The mayor first sent his request on Oct. 26, 2023, saying that Tinian needed its share of HOT funds to cover the ground maintenance contracts and pay for the expenditures incurred in holding the 2023 Gineptin Ha’anen Taga Festival.
He sent a follow-up letter on Nov. 20, 2023 seeking consideration of his request, this time, “to cover the expenses for this year’s holiday events consisting of the Thanksgiving Dinner Plate distribution, Christmas Lighting event, Christmas Carnival, Variety Show in early December, and our annual New Year’s Eve Event slated for December 31st.”
The mayor also wanted to know the status of Tinian’s share of HOT funds.
In his follow-up letter on Thursday, Aldan told the Finance secretary, “To date, we have not received a response as to the status of those funds or transfer of said funds to the municipality as required by law.”
He told Norita that the Marianas Visitors Authority has advised his office that the “request for said transfer must be addressed to you.”
The mayor cited Public Law 18-1, which states that HOT funds must be remitted to the MVA Trust Fund within 10 working days after the filing deadline.
He said according to the law, the municipalities of Saipan, Tinian, and Rota are each entitled to not less than 2% of HOT funds per fiscal year and these “shall be remitted to the municipality.”
He said the law likewise provides that the mayors of each municipality shall be the expenditure authority of each island.
In his latest letter, Aldan is requesting for a full accounting of total collected HOT funds to date and the transfer of Tinian’s share of HOT funds to the municipality.
“The municipality relies on those funds to maintain tourist sites and public facilities. Tinian also heavily relies on those funds to promote tourism activities to include our annual festivals and enhance tourist destination sites. As we work to rebuild our tourism industry, the primary engine of our economy, it is critical that these funds be transferred [on] a timely basis as provided by law,” the mayor said.
According to MVA’s citizen centric report, HOT normally constitutes a majority of MVA’s budget. From the total taxes collected, 80% is provided to MVA and 20% to the NMI Retirement Fund.
However, the report added, due to low visitor arrivals, the CNMI Budget Appropriations Act in FY 2023 suspended MVA’s entitlement to the HOT and Alcohol Container Tax collections. MVA said its major funding sources in FY 2023 were the Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery grant, American Rescue Plan Act funds, reserved funding, and local appropriation.
Variety was unable to get a comment from the Department of Finance.
