THE government is actually saving money by having Dr. James U. Hofschneider handle the dual tasks of public health secretary and government physician, according to House Speaker Heinz S. Hofschneider.
However, the speaker said Hofschneider cannot be allowed to retain his physician’s salary of $140,000, which under P.L. 9-25 is $60,000 more than the salary ceiling for a public health secretary.
Speaker Hofschneider said the only solution to Dr. Hofschneider’s salary dilemma is to amend P.L. 9-25 and allow the public health secretary to retain his current salary.
“A specific law capped that position (of health secretary) at $80,000. To exceed that, you need legislative action, you need to change the law, either amend the law and increase the salary or amend the law and exempt (the position) from the cap of $80,000,” the speaker said.
The other option is for Dr. Hofschneider to strictly abide to his role as a physician and retain his $140,000 salary.
But this, the speaker said, “is not really in the best interest of the people.”
“If you remove him from his appointed position, let him keep his $140,000 salary and he goes back to being a physician, then you have to fill the position of public health secretary. That means an additional $80,000. But (with his task right now) for only $140,000, you get one person to fill two positions.”
The speaker also believes that Dr. Hofschneider will not suffer from role overload in performing a dual task.
“By serving a dual role, (he can) maximize (his) skills and expertise. The role of the secretary of public health in other jurisdictions is not to micro-manage the day-to-day operations of hospitals. That’s ridiculous. The role of public health secretary is to oversee the entire CNMI state policy on health,” the speaker said.
