HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — Sen. Joe San Agustin and three other senators are looking to appropriate $9 million from the fiscal year 2022 general fund balance to the Department of Public Works for road repairs and maintenance, with a focus on improving visibility by repainting, restriping and adding reflective markers on routed and secondary roads.
The measure is Bill 204-37, and it was introduced Wednesday.
San Agustin stated in a press release that he has fielded many calls this term over “how hard it is to drive on our roadways,” particularly at night, “when it’s most difficult to see lane markers and curbs clearly due to how they are faded or from the lack of lane striping or reflectors on our roadways.”
“This bill is another way of using revenues for the direct benefit of our people. Our roadways are part of the bloodline for our island. It is the pathway for our children to get to school, our residents to work and families to travel to enjoy our recreational sites and visit with family and friends. This is a long-standing safety issue that we need to address now so that we can safely travel our roads with confidence that we will not be victims of any accidents due to the inability to see our roadways properly,” San Agustin added.
The release states that the $9 million was revealed in a press release from the Office of the Governor regarding the recently published report of the audit of the government of Guam.
The governor’s release stated that the audit report confirmed the government’s previous report on a general fund surplus of $105.1 million for fiscal 2022, although the prior report also noted that only $9 million was left available because of legislative appropriations and a transfer into the Rainy Day Fund.
The GovGuam audit report also made note of the subsequent appropriations, which totaled about $97.3 million. Taking from the $105.1 million, that leaves about $7.8 million in unappropriated surplus, a reduction of a little more than $1 million from the $9 million estimate reported earlier by the governor’s office.
“We’ll bring in the governor’s numbers and see what happens … there may be debate that it isn’t in fact $9 million,” San Agustin told The Guam Daily Post on Friday.
One of the appropriations the GovGuam audit report cites as taking away from the surplus is P.L. 37-43, legislation that appropriated at least $30 million to the Guam Memorial Hospital Authority from all unappropriated prior fiscal year excess in the general fund. The measure became law in fiscal 2024, so it should apply to fiscal years 2023 and back.
“What they said was any prior year obligations. It didn’t include whatever the (Office of Public Accountability audit) was going to come up with. Unless the (governor’s) administration says it does include it, then I’m going to have to debate that,” San Agustin said.
He added that he worked on Bill 204 with the Office of Finance and Budget and OFB was comfortable with the bill. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have introduced it, San Agustin said.
The other sponsors to Bill 204 are Sens. Roy Quinata, Dwayne San Nicolas and William Parkinson.
Joe San Agustin
