THE Department of Finance on Tuesday gave department and agency heads until May 31 to pay the outstanding landline phone bills of their federal program offices.
More than 50 offices implementing federal programs owe IT&E from $24 to $65,750 in landline phone bills. The total amount is over $222,000.
The agency with the biggest amount of unpaid phone bill is the CNMI Office of Transit Authority which owes IT&E $65,750.39.
Also on the list are the Office on Aging, $21,450.20; the Public Assistance Office, $12,308.44; CNMI Homeland Security and Emergency Management, $11,510.65; the Covid-19 Emergency Rental Assistance Program, $9,114.28; and the Department of Public Safety-Boating Safety Unit, $6,307.31.
The other offices owe IT&E $5,000 and below.
Finance Secretary Tracy Norita told the department and agency heads that invoices pertaining to these balances must be cleared and paid immediately.
“I am urging all federal programs identified [on] the [attached list] to reconcile accounts and process invoices for payment. If you have a dispute on any pending balances, please provide your breakdown of the account, invoice, amount, and drawdown date,” Norita said.
Additionally, she asked them to indicate if any credits were applied to their respective accounts as this may have been done in error by the vendor.
She said disputed accounts may need further investigation and resolution with IT&E if payments have been applied incorrectly.
The federal program offices are given until May 31, 2023 to clear or dispute outstanding balances. Any remaining account balances will render accounts subject to disconnection, Norita said.
