GOVERNOR Ralph DLG Torres will allot $122.5 million of the CNMI’s $515 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds for the Commonwealth government’s operations in fiscal year 2022.
The federal law allows the CNMI government to spend the monies in two fiscal years.
In his budget submission on April 1, the governor provided the Legislature a spreadsheet of the government’s FY 2022 spending measure.
From local revenue, the governor identifies $98.8 million available for CNMI government appropriation, although Finance Secretary David DLG Atalig and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Donald Manglona are hoping to increase the amount to $105 million by tapping more American Rescue Plan Act funds.
The governor, for his part, said $32.4 million in ARPA funds will fund the salaries of 2,152 CNMI government personnel.
He also urged the Marianas Visitors Authority to use its share of ARPA funds in “swiftly moving forward with planning for the resumption of activities aside from promotion and marketing of the Marianas as a tourist destination, but to include or create outdoor events for our community affected by this pandemic [for] over a year now.”
In his ARPA funding plan, the governor allots $1,093,819 for MVA — $1,082,989 of which is for personnel.
He will allot $3,890,104 in ARPA monies for Rota; $4,136,215 for Tinian; and $1,727,581 for Saipan and the Northern Islands.
The governor’s ARPA funding plan will also allot $2,107,135 for the judiciary and $5,070,594 for the Legislature.
Of the ARPA monies to be allotted for the Legislature, $3 million is for House members; $50,000 for the House leadership; $1.35 million for the senators; and $50,000 for the Senate leadership.
The governor has allotted $30,497,866 ARPA funds for the executive branch, $809,767 of which goes to his office and $568,727 to the office of the lt. governor.
The Commonwealth Healthcare Corp., for its part, will get $4,140,607 in ARPA funds while the Northern Marianas College will receive $5,018,175.
It was earlier announced that the Public School System will receive $160 million in ARPA funds.
Moving forward
In an interview, Speaker Edmund Villagomez said although the annual budget deliberations can be contentious, he said the House, the Senate and the administration “are all moving parts of the budget.”
“The House is going to need the Senate, the Senate is going to need the House and the administration is going to need the Legislature [so we can] have a balanced budget by the time the new fiscal year starts [on Oct. 1, 2021],” Villagomez said.
“We all have to…compromise at some point…. We need to have a budget ready for government operations so that we can provide services to our people.”
He also noted that failure to pass a new and balanced budget before Oct. 1 will result in a partial government shutdown.
For this year’s budget deliberations, Villagomez said discussions on the ARPA funds may be contentious.
“But there are always going to be contentions,” he added. “Everybody has their ideas on how they want to spend public funds. Once the House comes up with the budget and sends it to the Senate, the senators will have their own approach to the budget. And history tells us, the real work of the budget usually happens in the [House-Senate] conference committee,” which will draft a budget measure acceptable to both chambers.
Ralph DLG Torres
