EVEN if “external financial sources” were used to lift austerity measures, Senate President Edith Deleon Guerrero said the general fund would still face a deficit.
She was commenting on the administration’s statement Thursday that American Rescue Plan Act “residual funds, i.e., outside, non-local sources” were used to restore the executive branch employees’ working hours to 80.
In an interview over the weekend, Deleon Guerrero noted that the governor did not mention using ARPA funds when he announced the lifting of 10 austerity hours on Oct. 24, 2024.
She cited the analysis submitted by Senate fiscal analyst Dave Demapan who stated that “a balanced budget means revenue estimates equal appropriated outlays or expenditures.”
He also cited Public Law 3-68, Section 204 (b), which states: “The Annual Appropriation Acts as enacted or as amended shall not appropriate funds in excess of the total Commonwealth financial resources estimated and established as the limit of expenditures for the fiscal year by an approved House Concurrent Resolution…unless (1) the Legislature approves additional taxation, (2) the Commonwealth receives additional revenues, or (3) the Governor revises his estimated resources to anticipate financial resources in excess of these estimated resources; and the Legislature recognizes the additional resources by a supplemental budget or an amended Concurrent House Resolution.”
Demapan noted that the FY 2025 Budget Authority Act, or Public Law 23-26, places executive branch employees on austerity, limiting them to 70 hours per pay period.
Deleon Guerrero said the issue at-hand is whether the budgeting law was violated when the administration restored the executive branch employees’ 80 hours per pay period without first amending the FY 2025 budget law.
She said the general fund will also incur a deficit because the additional or excess expenditures for the lifting of the austerity measure was not authorized and appropriated by the FY 2025 budget.
On Thursday, the administration said, “because allocating … non-local funds did not constitute an increase in available local revenues for the fiscal year, no special message to the Legislature was required under 1 CMC § 7604.”
On Oct. 24, 2024, however, the administration said because P.L. 23-26 “did not provide the funds to pay for the restored hours,” the governor and the lt. governor “will be working closely with the Office of Management & Budget and the Department of Finance to prepare a proposed amendment to Public Law 23-26 that will be submitted to the Legislature.”
