IN response to Senate President Edith Deleon Guerrero’s statements regarding the American Rescue Plan Act funds, Department of Finance Secretary Tracy B. Norita said she is setting the record straight.
During a Senate session on Friday, Deleon Guerrero said a spreadsheet obtained from the Department of Finance indicated that there was $93.4 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds available as of May 31, 2023. Yet, she added, 500 ARPA-funded government employees had lost their jobs and the administration’s reason was due to lack of ARPA funds.
On Tuesday, the Finance secretary wrote Deleon Guerrero a letter “in the spirit of transparency and clarity.”
Norita said it is “unfortunate” that Deleon Guerrero has “resorted to irresponsible public statements that are dangerously misleading, inaccurate, and lacking in context.”
Norita said the administration has “consistently invited” Deleon Guerrero and other members of the Legislature to be a part of the collaborative process to take prudent, fiscally responsible actions to sustain government operations.
“I encourage you to participate in this process to be better informed in future public deliberations and decision-making,” Norita added.
She reminded Deleon Guerrero of the administration’s report regarding the $86 million deficit in ARPA funds, which prompted the creation of the Fiscal Response Team comprised of department heads and lawmakers.
Norita said the administration extended invitations to the Legislature, including the Senate president.
Since then, she said the team has been meeting weekly, providing updates on the reconciliation process and continuously changing balances.
“Although you haven’t been attending these meetings, your fiscal analyst has been provided documents showing the progress of the reconciliation, with full understanding that figures are updated on a weekly basis when there are new findings,” Norita said.
Through the team’s work, “we were able to organize financial information that initially was in disarray, into a reporting format that could help us make better, informed decisions.”
Norita said the team continues to update the budgetary and cash balances of the ARPA fund.
She added that it was the team that advised the governor and lawmakers about the necessity of a revised budget as well as cost-containment measures to protect critical operations.
Not cash
Norita said the $93 million in ARPA funds that Deleon Guerrero mentioned were “not actual cash.”
It was an amount that had yet to be “booked” and was still being scrutinized by the team “for allowability,” Norita said.
“You received this information,” she told the Senate president.
Norita also said that Deleon Guerrero was also informed about the ARPA cash balance of approximately $24 million, which is currently allocated for critical expenditures, such as utilities, fuel, communications and health/life insurance, for all branches of government.
Additionally, the administration has kept its commitment to the judiciary and the Legislature to maintain their ARPA allocations for critical operations only, Norita said.
“As you know, we cannot pay our vendors with figures represented on a budget; ultimately, cash is the real decision-making factor. The remaining ARPA cash of $24 million is barely sufficient to sustain critical operations for a very limited amount of time, thus cost-containment measures have been taken and the revised FY 2023 budget was passed into law,” Norita said.
As for the 500 ARPA-funded employees who were terminated, Norita said the Senate president’s statements “were wholly inaccurate and dangerously misleading.”
Norita reiterated that $93 million was not available in cash, and although it was a “painful” decision to terminate over 500 employees funded by ARPA, “it was absolutely necessary to maintain critical operations considering the general fund is not able to shoulder the cost.”
As for the Department of Community and Cultural Affairs’ vehicle on Tinian that was also mentioned on Friday by Deleon Guerrero, Norita said in an effort to reduce outstanding obligations for unpaid vehicles, a meeting was held with certain agencies to determine how the executive branch could assist in re-assigning current government vehicles so that unpaid purchase orders could be canceled, and vehicles returned to the vendor.
Unfortunately, Norita said, some agencies did not attend the meeting and did not fully understand its intent.
“Thus, you have taken this genuine effort to assist agencies in reducing their outstanding obligations and have blown it out of context,” Norita said. “This is an example of numerous meetings being held to come up with solutions to help the current fiscal crisis, while your statements mislead the public,” she added.
Norita said she met virtually with the U.S. Treasury on April 27, regarding the need to revise the current ARPA spending plan. She said the CNMI government was advised that the revision should be communicated in the semi-annual compliance reporting on expenditures. No other submission is required at this time, Norita said.
“The fact that you are unaware of this information is questionable. This updated information was immediately provided to those present at the subsequent FRT meetings, including your analyst,” Norita said.
She said the Palacios-Apatang administration has reduced executive branch employee hours to 72 hours per pay period, vacated rental spaces, disconnected phone lines, returned vehicles, canceled contracts — all to cut costs.
“We welcome the same effort from others. I invite you to visit the once fully occupied Horiguchi Building, it is now reduced to only a few employees, as other agencies have relocated and resorted to sharing government buildings,” she said.
Norita also said that the work to help the CNMI out of the fiscal crisis continues and can only be achieved “if we work together.”
“We remain committed to transparency, openness, and the responsible dissemination of accurate information and updates to the people we serve. The FRT continues to meet weekly, and you are more than welcome to join so that you can stay updated on the most current changes and have questions clarified and answered. I look forward to working with you and all members of the Legislature as we forge a way forward,” she said.
Variety was unable to get a comment from the Senate president.
Tracy Norita
