GOVERNOR Ralph DLG Torres on Friday submitted to the Legislature his revised budget proposal for fiscal year 2023 increasing to $104,352,567 from $101,352,567 the budgetary resources available for appropriation.
In his revised budget submission to Speaker Edmund S. Villagomez and Senate President Jude U. Hofschneider, the governor said the Finance secretary “reported no change” to the projected gross revenue for FY 2023, which is still $150,415,492.
However, he said, an update on the minimum annual payment received by the NMI Settlement Fund has resulted in a change to the CNMI government’s net budgetary resources.
In the governor’s initial budget submission on April 1, a total of $49,062,925 was allotted for the NMI Settlement Fund, pension obligation bonds, and Customs, Immigration and Quarantine overtime pay.
In Friday’s revised budget submission, the total allotments were down to $46,062,925.
In his updated revenue estimates, Finance Secretary David DLG Atalig said his office received an update from the NMI Settlement Fund indicating that the minimum annual payment was reduced to $36 million from $39 million.
The governor also noted the following changes to the general fund appropriations:
1) The additional 25% allocation to Public School System as a result of the increase in net budgetary resources.
2) The 100% allocation of funds for personnel and operations of the judicial and legislative branches.
3) The 80% allocation of personnel funding with the exception of constitutionally mandated salaries.
4) $103,020 to the Office of Vocational Rehabilitation Services for its mandatory local matching fund required by its grantor.
5) The allocation of funds for the Department of Corrections for its 9th Cycle Corrections Academy.
6) $75,000 for the Northern Marianas Sports Association to support athletes invited for representation at off-island sporting events.
In his cover letter, the governor said the revision continues to reflect the proposed suspension of earmarks from his April 1 submission. The suspended earmarks include the CW worker fee fund, the gaming jackpot taxes, tobacco control tax, hotel tax, alcohol container and cigarette taxes.
He said as his administration continues to work with its partners at the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. and the Covid-19 Task Force in successfully managing Covid-19 cases in the islands, “we embrace the benefits that have been realized since the development of the travel bubble program which established the CNMI as a safe destination for tourists.”
“We also look forward to the upcoming launch of the Marianas Southern Airways which will not only provide our residents with more options to travel but also increase the importing and exporting of goods within the CNMI,” the governor said.
Another great step in revitalizing the CNMI economy, the governor said, is the anticipated opening of the United Airlines direct flights from Japan to Saipan in September. “We have had a good and long-standing relationship with Japan, and we now have the opportunity to rebuild the CNMI as a choice of destination for Japanese visitors, at the same time developing our other markets,” he said.
The governor added that his administration’s priorities in infrastructure development, destination enhancement, the diversification of the economy, natural disaster preparation and recovery, the mitigation of the ongoing global pandemic, and the improvements to core governmental services remain critical in his plans for the upcoming fiscal year, which starts on Oct. 1, 2022.
Supplementing local revenues for over a year now are $481.8 million in American Rescue Plan Act or ARPA funds provided to the CNMI by the federal government.
