A FISCAL team created by the Senate will review, analyze, and reconcile the preliminary findings of the new administration’s transition committee, Senate President Edith Deleon Guerrero said on Wednesday.
The team will be chaired by Senate Vice President Donald M. Manglona and the vice chair will be Senate Floor Leader Corina L. Magofna. The members are Sens. Celina Babauta, Paul Manglona, Karl King-Nabors and Dennis Mendiola.
Deleon Guerrero said the fiscal team will also determine whether the $19.3 million in Covid-19 pandemic expenditures funded by the American Rescue Plan Act will be reimbursed because a transition committee report noted that the $19.3 million is not part of the anticipated $63 million reimbursement.
In addition, she wants to know if $48.6 million in approved reimbursement is part of the anticipated $63 million reimbursement.
Deleon Guerrero said a transition team likewise found that there was a $56.8 million payment made to the general fund.
She said the Senate fiscal team will try to find out “what is the nature of this payment — is it a reimbursement to the general fund? If it is, then the activity name must be indicated [as well as] its business unit number and the total unappropriated expenditures incurred by fiscal years.”
The fiscal team will review expenditures, cash disbursements, cash receipts, and outstanding contracts and purchase orders as well as the balance of accounts payable, ARPA fund bank statements as of Dec 31, 2022, and the balance of the Federal Emergency Management Agency Community Disaster Loan as of Dec. 31, 2022, Deleon Guerrero said.
Moreover, she said the team will look into the general fund’s first quarter performance under the fiscal year 2023 budget and see if all major obligations have been paid and if all government activities have received their regular allotments.
Hopefully, she added, the fiscal team can prepare a cash flow projection for the next nine months and determine if the CNMI government can finance its operations and obligations and sustain the delivery of public services.
Senate President Edith Deleon Guerrero raises her hand as Senate Vice President Donald Manglona and Sen. Karl King-Nabors look on during a Senate joint committee meeting with Marianas Visitor Authority and Commonwealth Ports Authority officials in the Senate chamber on Wednesday.
