The projected revenue for fiscal year 2012 is $120 million only and no agency will get what it is asking for, Acting Gov. Eloy S. Inos said.
He told reporters yesterday that the total amount of budget requests is “obviously way off the mark.”
Inos and the Office of Management and Budget have already met with at least eight department heads: Lands and Natural Resources, Commerce, Public Health, Public Safety, Corrections, Finance, Community and Cultural Affairs and Public Works.
Inos said the officials understood that the total submissions must not exceed the $120 million level.
“That is the reason for all these meetings,” Inos said.
Each agency, he added, is requesting funds based on its responsibilities.
Some agencies feel they need more funding to carry out their duties, he said.
That is why the administration needs to be informed about all the needs of the departments so it can set priorities, he added.
Inos said everybody must remember that “we need to fund the critical services first, to be followed by support services, then the services that are also necessary but not absolutely.”
By March 15, he said they should be able to compile all the funding requests so they can submit the final budget proposal to the Legislature on April 1, which is the deadline.
Lawmakers, for their part, must pass the budget on or before Oct. 1. Failure to do so will result in another partial government shutdown.
