Reorganization No. 7 Advisory was released by the governor’s office, stating salary step increases for all classified employees and pay hikes for all unclassified employees of the executive branch are now frozen.
This salary freeze will remain in effect until further notice.
Furthermore, no executive department appointing authority, or designee, can recommend, process, or otherwise implement a salary step increment for any employee. However, annual performance evaluations for classified employees will continue to be performed in accordance with personnel rules and regulations.
Gov. Eddie B. Calvo has stated that cost-cutting steps are necessary to avoid, at all costs, the need to lay off classified employees to fix the structural imbalance of the General Fund. Thus, the administration is exploring all alternatives to cut costs as the reorganization process moves forward.
Audited statements report the Fiscal Year 2010 deficit has increased the General Fund deficit by $71 million, from $265 to $336 million. This does not include the anticipated Fiscal Year 2011 deficit, which will add to the cumulative deficit. This deficit, due in part to underfunded/unfunded mandates from previous years and over-projected revenues, places severe constraints on the government of Guam’s ability to carry out its most critical public safety, healthcare and education mandates.
“These services will not be jeopardized. The government deficit cannot be ignored,” according to the advisory.
Layoffs
Meanwhile, 15 government of Guam employees will be laid off as part of Gov. Calvo’s commitment to rightsize government through his government-wide reorganization plan.
The 15 are employed at the Guam Public Library System, Hagåtña Restoration and Redevelopment Authority, Guam Council on the Arts and Humanities Agency, and Guam Education Telecommunications Corporation dba PBS Guam. The governor integrated these agencies into the Department of Chamorro Affairs as part of his government-wide reorganization plan, thus causing redundancies.
Joseph Artero-Cameron, who heads the Department of Chamorro Affairs, submitted Reduction in Force Advisory No. 2 to the Human Resources Administrator of the Department of Administration, which identified the positions.
Cameron certified to the Department of Administration there is a lack of funds to sustain the department at its current levels. He added that the reorganization of DCA has led to the finding of redundancies and thus, a lack of work.
The redundancies have also been brought about by the transfer of branch library facilities to the mayors of Merizo, Agat, Yona, Barrigada and Dededo.
The mayors of these villages are in the process of revamping these facilities into learning centers of excellence. They are building community partnerships to staff and open these facilities for at least five days a week, which is well beyond the two-days-per-week schedule some branch libraries intermittently followed.
DCA will not choose who will be laid off. This will be decided by a process involving a retention register at the Department of Administration’s Human Resources Division.
