The Senate on Wednesday passed the budget proposing a budget of $58,241,987 .
Del. Jonathan Isechal, chair of the House Committee on Ways and Means said that the House rejected the Senate version that a conference committee is necessary to reconcile the differences.The House version proposed a budget of $58,495,987 while President Johnson Toribiong proposed a $58,787,987 financial package.Isechal said hopefully the budget will passed on Wednesday next week.The Senate version proposed several cuts in the ministries’ budgetIn the Senate Committee on Ways and Means report, it stated that it made several amendments to the bill. The report added that it found a substantial number of accounting discrepancies in the funds availability analysis (FAA).The Committee found a substantial number of accounting discrepancies in that analysis. Additionally, based on the amount of taxes collected so far this calendar year, the Committee found that the projected amount of tax collection for the 2009 fiscal year will likely be lower than the FAA projected. These discrepancies in the FAA resulted in a $2.78 million swing in the overall numbers for the budget – from a $1.5 million surplus to a $1.4 million deficit.
