Press Secretary Angel A. Demapan said the team is composed of key personnel from the Office of the Management and Budget, the Department of Finance, the governor’s office and the Office of Personnel Management.
He did not disclose the names of the members.
During the budget deliberations, the team’s job was to monitor the bill’s progress in the Legislature to ensure it was workable and constitutional.
And since the budget bill was already passed and enacted into law, the team’s job now is to come up with a best plan on how to meet the government’s expenditure levels without jeopardizing critical services.
Demapan said the administration wants police officers, teachers and health care professionals exempted from the work-hour cuts.
He said they know that these are critical services so it will not be possible to shut them down.
The administration, he added, is still in the planning phase and is exploring options on how the critical services can operate within the new budget law, or P.L. 17-21.
Demapan said the budget bill did not exempt these critical government positions, but the administration will make sure that critical services are not disrupted and this is why the budget team was formed.
The team will come up with recommendations for the critical services.
“The administration has to ensure two things. First is to remain within the expenditure authority; and second, the services that need to be made available to the public 24/7 will not be disrupted,” Demapan said.
The budget team is also putting together a expenditure plan for all the offices under the executive branch in order to have a clear picture of where the administration can cut costs while meeting the obligation to the people in terms of health, safety and welfare.
Demapan said the implementation of the 16-hour cut will start on Oct. 24, but he assured that police and corrections officers, teachers, nurses and doctors will not be affected.
