THE Rota Legislative Delegation is ready to act on Sen. Paul A. Manglona’s Senate Local Bill 22-6, which proposes to abolish the annual salary of the Rota casino gaming commissioners.
S.L.B. 22-6 was on the bill calendar for action in the delegation’s session scheduled for Wednesday, but the session was postponed due to a conflict of schedules among the four members.
Manglona’s local bill states that Rota casino commissioners will each receive $60,000 per year, but only when there is an active casino operation on island.
When there is no active casino, the local bill states, “the members of the commission shall be compensated in accordance with 1 CMC Section 8247 which states: ‘The rate of compensation for meetings attended for members of all government corporations, councils, commissions, agencies, including but not limited to autonomous agencies, boards, and elected municipal councils, subject to the availability of funds and authorization of the Legislature, shall be no more than $60 for a full-day meeting and no more than $30 for a half day or less meeting; provided that the compensation shall not exceed a maximum of $6,000 per year; provided further that compensation for meetings shall be limited to those meetings open and public and for which notice has been published.’”
Noting that the Rota municipal government spends $300,000 each year for the Rota commissioners’ salaries even when there is no casino on Rota, Manglona said the commissioners’ compensation “is a huge burden on the municipality’s obligations.”
This concern, he said, was raised by Rota residents during a town hall meeting that the delegation held on May 6, 2021.
After the town hall meeting, he said, the Rota delegation agreed to amend the island’s casino law.
Paul A. Manglona
