HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — Lawmakers continued working Wednesday to try to get money to flow from already overextended government of Guam coffers toward relief efforts following the destruction caused by Typhoon Mawar.
Legislation to authorize Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero to shift $50 million from its original purposes in this year’s budget to recovery efforts hit a snag Tuesday night.
“The $50 million does not exist,” Lester Carlson, director of the Bureau of Budget and Management Research, told lawmakers.
Senators put the governor’s existing transfer authority at a full $50 million and Speaker Therese Terlaje’s Bill 127-37 was meant to tack on another $50 million on top of that.
But only about $11.9 million was available up front, Carlson said, after accounting for how much tax revenue is on hand and subtracting any funding that is exempt from being transferred. Close to 95% of that $11.9 million is for personnel, meaning “there would be trouble” if it were pooled into other areas, according to Carlson.
And GovGuam already is short about $7 million for the month of May, according to Carlson. Senators headed into the current fiscal year with a balanced budget, but have pulled from tax revenues that are collected in excess of what the government was projecting.
The latest two expenditures – $10 million for power bill reimbursements and another $15 million upon collection of funding for small business expenditures – are what pushed the situation into the red, Carlson said.
Reworked legislation
Speaker Terlaje submitted a tweaked version of the bill. Instead of authorizing the governor to transfer allocated money, it will give her the authority to spend outright from the General Fund on Mawar relief. That cash will, hopefully, be reimbursed by the federal government.
“The whole gist of the bill was (to) remove any impediment for the governor to use money that can get reimbursed by (the Federal Emergency Management Agency),” Terlaje said.
Recommendations to change the legislation came from the governor’s team, Terlaje said. Reports on any spending will have to be kicked back monthly to the Legislature, should the bill become law.
According to Carlson, once GovGuam can relieve some of the immediate hardships caused by Mawar, the economy should come back online and continue to bring in higher-than-expected taxes to the government.
Federal assistance
Office of Civil Defense Administrator Charles Esteves said the possibility of the government maxing out its reimbursements from FEMA at a 90% federal to 10% local spending rate were good “only because of what we’ve received historically, in terms of approved public assistance projects.”
Adjusted for inflation, the local government spent about $93 million on recovery from Pongsona, he said. Money from FEMA can go toward a range of government expenditures in the aftermath of Mawar, including overtime and repairs. Reimbursement ties can be up to five years, but are close to six months if expedited, Esteves said.
There’s no estimate for how much it will cost to mitigate the destruction on Guam, Robert Fenton Jr., the administrator for FEMA Region 9, told senators Tuesday. It could be months before a figure arrives, but between $25 million to $30 million was spent by FEMA as of Tuesday, he said.
Supertyphoon Pongsona, which may have been an “order of magnitude worse” than Mawar, cost between $200 million and $300 million back in 2002, he said.
American Rescue Plan funds
Carlson said some in the cabinet, including Department of Administration Director Ed Birn, believe $228 million worth of federal American Rescue Plan money sitting in the bank could be spent on Mawar relief and then reimbursed.
But “Mr. Fenton adamantly said no. So it might take a while, and it might end up that he’s right and, you know, we’re just wishful thinking.”
Fenton has said he is reviewing whether ARP funds can be used for typhoon recovery.
Sen. Chris Duenas suggested an exemption from Congress be requested.
Lawmakers were still discussing the measure in session late Wednesday afternoon.
Therese Terlaje
Lester Carlson
