GOVERNOR Juan N. Babauta on Tuesday assured the Marianas Visitors Authority that the 8 percent reduction in its budget would be returned through the reprogramming of funds.
Citing the legal opinion of the Attorney General’s Office, Babauta said the planned budget cut will be carried out “across-the-board,” without exemptions.
However, some funds will be reprogrammed for critical agencies such as MVA and the Public School System, he said.
“We would also come back and see what we can do to replenish the cut made to MVA,” the governor said.
Babauta said AGO’s opinion states that the governor doesn’t have the power to exempt an agency from the 8 percent budget cut.
“The cut has to be made across-the-board. (We) have to go back and see where we can reprogram the money…to replenish the cuts that were made to PSS,” he said.
MVA’s board asked Babauta to exempt the agency from the budget cuts, citing its critical role in promoting the CNMI overseas.
“The board respectfully requests for a waiver from the 8 percent reduction (estimated at $482,000, as) we are the productive arm of the government,” MVA Chairman David Sablan said.
