SPECIAL Assistant for Management and Budget Vicky Villagomez on Wednesday said budget cuts are “more than likely.”
She said she will meet with the department heads to discuss the revision of the fiscal year 2023 budget “that we need to submit…next week.”
The fiscal year budget or Public Law 22-22 appropriated $109.78 million for government activities.
In addition to that amount, then-Gov. Ralph DLG Torres allotted $32.6 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds.
Villagomez on Wednesday said they will remove everything that is ARPA-related from the FY 2023 budget — including the ARPA funds for personnel.
She said it is more than likely that cost-containment measures will be implemented by the government.
Variety was told that the Department of Finance and the Office of Management and Budget are still “sorting out” the government’s federal fund account to determine which are ARPA funds and which are other federal funds.
All the federal funds in the CNMI government account were co-mingled, Variety learned.
Before the CNMI received ARPA funds amounting to over $480 million, the Commonwealth government in 2020 had to implement a “proportionate reduction of 48% in the continuing budget authority” of all government branches. The cost-cutting measures included furloughs and work-hour reductions.
