FINANCE Secretary Tracy B. Norita said she and her department are grateful to the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Office of Insular Affairs for the $1.6 million grant that will allow them to complete an audit that has been delayed for two years.
OIA awarded the grant following Gov. Arnold I. Palacios’ request for technical assistance to complete a forensic audit.
Of the amount, $885,000 is for single audit technical assistance, financial management system implementation, and general financial records management; $526,799 is for implementation and training under the Revenue Management Information System; and $196,717 is for the Office of the Public Auditor.
During a budget hearing on Tuesday, Norita told members of the House Ways and Means Committee that the grant will fund forensic auditing and professional services to help the department “catch up with our audit because we are two years behind.”
In its budget submission for fiscal year 2024, Finance requested $13.6 million. In the governor’s proposal, the department will be allotted $7.7 million. The department’s revised FY 2023 budget is $6 million.
Norita said they understand that the government’s budget is limited.
“So, we will try our best. We are looking at areas that we can cut while providing and keeping our system online,” she said.
“We are ready to make cuts. But again, that will introduce more risks to our cyber-security and cash management, and it will reduce or delay our processing time. And so, we will work with what we have,” she said.
“We are in the same boat with everybody else and we’ll do our best to cut costs and try to maintain the services that we provide. But we are [also] asking for support and consideration for at least the critical areas to help us do our job well, and to help us collect much needed revenue for the government,” she added.
