The Marianas Visitors Authority board of directors met on Thursday with MVA management.
Photo by Bryan Manabat
THE Marianas Visitors Authority board of directors on Thursday approved the reprogramming of $200,000 in reserve funds to support offshore Korea representation fees, travel, and sponsorships.
South Korea is now the CNMI’s primary tourism market.
MVA Managing Director Jamika Taijeron requested the board’s approval to reprogram available funds identified by management to ensure sufficient funding through the end of fiscal year 2025.
The funding earmarked for reprogramming comes from MVA’s $2.5 million reserve originally set aside for the construction of a permanent building to eliminate monthly rental payments.
Taijeron noted that MVA expects to receive reimbursements from the Community Development Block Grant–Disaster Recovery program, which have already been approved, to replenish the building reserve fund.
“Due to recent challenges with unstable air service, MVA has initiated several programs with our airline and travel agency partners to help stabilize service over the next few months. To fund these programs, we are tapping into our building reserve fund, which we’ve been saving to build or purchase a permanent home for MVA. This reserve currently stands at about $2.5 million. We intend to replenish it once we receive the pending payments from CDBG-DR,” Taijeron added.
The MVA board approved the reprogramming of $170,000 for offshore Korea representation fees and $20,000 for travel expenses to cover the remaining months of FY 2025 (August–September 2025).
The board also approved reprogramming $10,000 for sponsorships, including additional expenses related to the Tinian Beef, Beer, and Band event scheduled for Aug. 8–9.
In a separate action, MVA board approved a request to increase the capitalization threshold for assets from $500 to $5,000.
“This will streamline our accounting processes by minimizing the resources spent on tracking and depreciating lower-value items,” Taijeron said.
