IN July 1984, Variety reported that the CNMI Senate was “out of money.” The Senate “will be broke…next week and the July 20 paycheck for the Senate’s approximately 90 employees will be their last of the fiscal year,” according to the director of the Department of Finance. He said “he saw no solution in sight for the Senate’s problems, and only an additional appropriation could keep the staff members in the green.”
Also short of cash were Saipan’s power plants which, at the time, were under the Department of Public Works. The Finance director said the power plants “will be out of fuel by July 18, and there is no money in the Public Works account to purchase more fuel.” He said Public Works was experiencing a $2.7 million (worth about $7.9 million today) shortfall because the Legislature appropriated $5.2 million (worth about $15.27 million) for the department even though it requested $7.9 million (worth about $23.19 million today). “The Legislature made the cut to force Public Works to collect several million dollars in delinquent utility bills.”
In an editorial, Variety noted that the Commonwealth government “is the [islands’] biggest employer,” but the time had come “to correct the existing system…inherited from the Trust Territory and the U.S…..” The editorial said a new “approach should be geared toward [a] reduction of personnel, eliminating duplication of offices and agencies, and reducing eligibility [for] some of the handouts and other benefits extended by the [CNMI]…and…U.S. government[s].” The editorial writer believed that up to one-third of the CNMI government’s employees could be “released.”
The following week, MV’s banner story was about the Rota officials who were flying to London “to view a power generator” there. The week-long trip would be paid by IPSECO, a British firm that sold generators and power plants, and had installed them in Palau and the Marshall Islands. An administration official was quoted as saying that Rota was “long overdue for a new generator because the one currently operating there was built in the 1960s.”
Meanwhile, at the legislative building, 11 of the 14 members of the House of Representatives made a “daring proposal” to cut the Legislature’s budget in half and limit it to $2 million a year — worth about $5.87 million today. (In the current fiscal year 2023, the Legislature’s budget amounts to $7.1 million.) In 1984, the budget for the House and the Senate was $4.14 million (worth $12.15 million today). Proponents of a budget ceiling for the Legislature said its budget was “way out of proportion and way out of control.” They said the Legislature “has the desire to reduce the size of the CNMI government, and…is willing to begin to do it at home.” However, Variety noted that both the House and the Senate were also proposing to give their members a pay hike, from $21,000 annually to $33,000 annually — worth about $61,000 and $88,000 today. (According to current law, each legislator today receives an annual salary of $32,000.)
In 1984, one of Variety’s special sections was called “College Corner” and was devoted to NMC. The college said it aimed to “offer programs that foster the Commonwealth’s economic, social, political and cultural growth and development by identifying present and future manpower training needs….; developing and offering programs to meet those identified needs; [and] continuing to offer relevant programs in the already established need areas of agriculture, adult basic and continuing education, business , education, liberal arts and vocational education.”
On July 27, 1984, Variety’s top news story was the governor’s decision to reprogram money from the Economic Development Loan Fund (which later became CDA and is now known as CEDA). The governor said he had to declare a state of emergency and reprogram about $3.5 million (worth about $10.27 million today) to pay for medical referrals and fuel for the power plants. But a lawmaker said the House appropriations committee was not consulted, and the two agencies that were broke (DPW and the hospital) “have poor track records in collecting bills.” He also “questioned whether running out of money could be classified as an emergency….” For his part, the attorney general said the financial shortfall “is a ‘calamity’ that allows the Governor to declare an emergency.” The AG added, “Just try to picture this island without electricity.”
In an editorial, Variety noted the poor quality of several bills introduced by lawmakers who, clearly, “did not do their homework” despite “having quite a number of well-paid consultants, researchers and legal counsels to draft legislation that make people laugh….”
But the U.S. assistant Interior secretary, Richard T. Montoya, wasn’t amused by a bill to raise the salaries of the CNMI’s elected officials. In a letter to the governor, Montoya said, “In our previous discussions, you have always taken a strong position on the issue of the Government…living within its financial resources. I want to advise you that I will continue to support you in that regard and will take strong exception to the action now reported being proposed by certain members of the [CNMI] Senate.” The pay-hike proposal, he added, was “irresponsible at any time, but more so during a period of financial uncertainty…. I am also aware [that] the…Senate recently ran out of funds to conduct its operations. For that body to now recommend pay raises for itself would be ludicrous.”
Montoya visited the island in August 1984, and in a speech delivered during a Saipan Chamber of Commerce meeting, he proposed a review of government procurement procedures to ensure competitive prices for materials and equipment purchased. In addition, he recommended the transfer to the private sector of the power plant, hospital and garbage collection service to minimize government spending. He also said: “There is nowhere in the world that the government could continue as an employment agency.”
Almost four decades ago.
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