GOVERNOR Arnold I. Palacios last week signed into law Senate Local Bill 23-1 which abolishes the $60,000 annual salary of the Rota Casino Gaming commissioners. There is currently no casino on the island.
The governor informed Senate President Edith Deleon Guerrero and the Rota Legislative Delegation chairman, Senate Vice President Donald M. Manglona, that S.L.B. 23-1, authored by Sen. Paul A. Manglona, is now Rota Local Law 23-4.
The new law strikes out the provision in the Rota casino law that allows each of the island’s gaming commissioners to receive $60,000 per year.
Under the new law, the commissioners will be compensated in accordance with 1 CMC Section 8247, which states: “The rate of compensation for meetings attended by members of all government corporations, councils, commissions, agencies, including but not limited to autonomous agencies, boards, and elected municipal councils, subject to the availability of funds and authorization of the Legislature, shall be no more than $60 for a full-day meeting and no more than $30 for a half day or less meeting; provided that the compensation shall not exceed a maximum of $6,000 per year; provided further that compensation for meetings shall be limited to those meetings open and public and for which notice has been published.”
Sen. Paul A. Manglona said each year, the municipality of Rota spends $300,000 for the commissioners even when there is no active casino on Rota.
“The commission members’ compensation is a huge financial burden to the municipality’s obligations,” he added.
To reduce these obligations and address the public’s concerns that were raised during a town hall meeting at the Rota Mayor’s Office two years ago, the senator said the Rota Legislative Delegation proposed to amend the commissioners’ compensation scheme to part-time and based on meetings attended by each commissioner.
Once Rota’s casino industry is revived, the commissioners’ salary can be evaluated again, the senator said.
The current chair of the Rota Casino Gaming Commission is Viola Hocog. The members are Mateo Santos, Lucas Mendiola, Audre Manglona and Kent Atalig.
More new Rota laws
Also last week, the governor approved House Local Bill 23-4 which doubles the cost of a Rota resident identification card.
Enacted in 2013, the Rota Resident Identification Card Program Act or R.L.L. 18-8 allows the Rota Mayor’s Office to charge the island’s residents $10 for a resident card.
The new local law, authored by Rep. Julie Marie Ogo, raises this amount to $20 and imposes a $15 fee for renewal or replacement of a lost card. According to the new law, the Rota Mayor’s Office is the expenditure authority of the funds collected from the residential card fees.
The governor likewise signed into law H.L.B. 23-5, also authored by Ogo, to amend the Rota Dog Control Act by transferring from the Rota Municipal Council to the Department of Lands and Natural Resources the power and duty to adopt rules and regulations in the implementation of the island’s dog control law which imposes a $25 registration fee per dog, and $20 if the dog is sterilized.
The measure, now R.L.L. 23-3, aims to make dog owners liable for injuries caused by their dogs, provide penalties for unregistered dogs, and use the license fees to defray enforcement operations and control the dog population.
