THE Department of Finance is working with other key agencies in trying to “reconcile” the CNMI government’s expenditures of the $482 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds that the Commonwealth received from the federal government.
In an interview, acting Finance Secretary Tracy B. Norita told reporters on Friday that on Feb. 8, in a meeting with her staff, the Homeland Security and Emergency Management Office and the Public Assistance Office, they found “unreconciled expenditures.”
She said “there’s a lot of coordination now in finding what happened during that critical time at the start of the pandemic.”
Norita said HSEM and PAO staffers have been very helpful in providing Finance with some background information.
“We are hoping to close the reconciliation as soon as possible — before April 1, for sure,” she added.
She reiterated that they are “reconciling the cash accounts because the…figures” do not match.
“That is our goal right now,” she added. “It’s to identify where it went,” referring to the ARPA money that was spent.
She said the CNMI government “continues to operate with the remaining ARPA [funds]. Like I said, our goal is to find out the true amount of the remaining ARPA funds and then project forward how long will that last.”
She could not say for sure whether the ARPA funds have run out “until we complete the reconciliation.”
