The mayor’s office is asking for a $1,597,097 budget for its personnel and other expenditures.
But the governor proposed only $909,587.
The governor’s proposed budget approved 38 full-time employees and a personnel budget of $756,088 while the mayor’s office asked for 48 FTE’s and $1,245,024 for personnel costs.
Personnel costs include wages and salaries, personnel insurance, retirement and Medicare contributions.
The other expenditures of the mayor’s office include professional service, office expenses, rentals, supplies, capitalized fixed assets and others.
“My proposal is true to your statement of ‘doing more with less in a less vibrant economy,’ as the proposed spending level for my office for fiscal year 2012 is near the current fiscal year’s level,” Saipan Mayor Donald G. Flores, said in his proposed budget submission to Office of Management and Budget acting special assistant Virginia C. Villagomez.
He said the governor’s proposal will mean that there will be no allocation for advertising, dues and subscriptions, licenses and fees, printing and photocopying, rental office equipment, rental of heavy equipment, personnel training cost, utilities-power and capitalized fixed assets.
Last week, Sen. Jovita M. Taimanao, Ind.-Rota and Fiscal Affairs Committee chairwoman, discussed the proposed budget with the mayor.
Flores said even with 48 FTE’s, his “office cannot function or effectively carry out its constitutional and statutory mandates….”
He cited the stray dog control program, the repairs of secondary public rights-of-way, coordination of community and public services among other public services his office delivers.
The mayor also noted his office’s cultural exchange program which hosts visiting students, military officers, athletes and dignitaries from different islands and countries.
“As part of the overall CNMI effort to promote the Northern Mariana Islands as a favorite tourist destination, the office of the mayor of Saipan must assure that it continues its traditional role of hosting the countless of visitors and guests to the CNMI, including residents of Saipan and the neighboring islands,” Flores said.
