The pay raise was already approved by the federal court, which created the Settlement Fund as a part of a settlement agreement with the CNMI government.
Rep. Joseph Leepan T. Guerrero introduced H.R. 21-37, which states that Tang’s salary increase is “highly unfeasible at the present time.”
In an interview, Guerrero said his resolution seeks to protect the interest of CNMI retirees. A lot of them, he added, are not being informed of what has been going on with the Settlement Fund.
He said many retirees do not have the internet and cannot go online to access the Settlement Fund website that contains audit reports from 2014 to 2019.
On June 11, 2019, Designated Federal Judge Frances Tydingco-Gatewood approved a pay increase for Tang to $350 an hour from $250 an hour.
The judge also ordered the Settlement Fund to pay Tang $108,890.40, which represented 90% of the trustee’s professional fees and all expenses incurred during the months of December 2019 through July 2020.
According to the resolution, “It is not in the best interest of the CNMI to be giving increases to any official who is being paid by taxpayer dollars,” adding that the trustee resides on Guam, which requires additional cost for her travel, room, board, and transportation.
In its reply to the resolution the Settlement Fund noted that Tang is not a CNMI government official. “As the court-appointed Trustee, she reports exclusively to the District Court; her actions are overseen by Chief Judge Frances Tydingco-Gatewood; and all payments made to her law firm are scrutinized by the District Court. Because payments owed to Ms. Tang’s firm are paid from funds belonging to the Settlement Fund, any payment made for her services do not impact the CNMI’s budget…. [T]he payments owed to the law firm do not increase the CNMI Government’s payment obligations under the Settlement Agreement.”
As a cost-saving measure, the resolution stated, “it would be appropriate to appoint a legal counsel who resides within the CNMI.”
But according to the Settlement Fund, “the minimal extra costs of Ms. Tang being in Guam are more than offset by the benefit the Settlement Fund (and Retirees) receive from her leadership and single-minded devotion to the protection of the Settlement Fund and the well-being of Retirees. [W]hatever extra costs there may be because she is in Guam are negligible…. [T]he reason the District Court Judge selected a Trustee from Guam is that the candidates she considered from the CNMI all had conflicts of interest. Finally, Ms. Tang administers the Settlement Fund under the exclusive jurisdiction of the NMI District Court. The Legislature does not have the power to replace or appoint a Trustee.”
The resolution likewise stated that Tang’s “pay raise, can lead to additional financial resources that can be used to aid those individuals who are earning less than other recipients.”
The Settlement Fund, however, said, “Payments owed to Ms. Tang’s law firm have no bearing on benefit payments made to the Class Members (Retirees). Class Members’ benefit payments are based on a statutory benefit formula taking into consideration the Retirees’ respective average annual salary and years in government [service].”
To read the complete text of the Settlement Fund’s reply to the resolution, go to https://www.nmisf.com/2020/9-24-2020-ltr-to-rep-guerrero-re-hr-21-37
