CUC’s problems didn’t happen overnight. They are the direct results of the incompetence and mismanagement of the political hires that have been running this agency since the beginning of its existence. Clearly this government has no business running a utilities agency. It simply can’t. It’s like shooting pool with a rope. But, by now, everyone in the CNMI is aware of this fact.
What is of particular interest for the people this time is how CUC — i.e., the governor’s office — awarded the contracts for the repair of the power plant engines. What were the criteria used? Who are these companies? What is their background? Who are their local connections?
When CUC’s executive director was asked about the delay in the repair of the power plant engines, he replied: “Your issues are with regards to oversight. Call OPA or FBI to resolve.” Actually, these issues involve public funds. And CUC should be held accountable for every taxpayer penny that it continues to squander.
TINIAN’S mayor says, in so many words, that raising taxes will be good for the economy. True, but only if by “good” he means “dead.”
You “spur” economic growth by creating an investment climate that will attract and allow companies to do business here and create jobs. You kill any prospect of growth by raising the cost of doing business — which the pro-business Fitial administration has been doing since its first day in office.
According to the Tinian mayor, the only alternative to raising taxes is to fire government employees, which he won’t do. What he means is that he can’t. The government remains the only viable employer of residents, who are voters. “I know politically,” he says, “taxes are very unpopular but I know that firing is more unpopular.”
However, levying more taxes on businesses that are already on the verge of extinction will only result in more shutdowns in the private sector — the government’s main source of revenue. If you keep raising power rates, fees and taxes, there will be, soon, no businesses left that can pay for the salaries of government employees.
According to the mayor, the government should also consider taxing low-earning foreign workers — who take low-paying jobs no one else wants — for sending money to their families in the Third World. This has been proposed many times before. CNMI politicians generally don’t mind imposing additional burdens on non-voters. But they also don’t want to be depicted as mean-spirited and villainous by human rights advocates and politicians in the U.S. who are disgusted with local labor and immigration policies.
Moreover, considering the massive layoffs and work-hour cuts now occurring in the private sector, the total amount of these remittances should be decreasing. So how can taxing them produce the tens of millions of dollars needed by this wasteful, overspending, gargantuan government?
In any case, as the mayor should know, the economy that has to sustain the needs of this bankrupt government continues to unravel. There should be no need for additional taxes or firing ordinary public sector employees if only the government would reduce its spending — across the board salary cuts, hiring freeze, pay hike freeze, travel freeze. Turn off all government air-cons. Terminate the contracts of government “consultants” and “special assistants.” Reduce the number of House and Senate seats. Scrap the budgets of the municipal councils. (Council members should take their cue from the youth senators and serve as “volunteers.”) Require officials and employees to use their own vehicles. No more gasoline allowances. Privatize services that can be done better by the private sector.
The list can go on and on. But where are the leaders who will do what must be done?
