THE CNMI judiciary has submitted to the Legislature a fiscal year 2025 budget request in the amount of $14,889,474, which includes a pay raise for judicial employees.
Under Public Law 23-9 or the FY 2024 Appropriation Act, the judiciary was appropriated $6 million.
In their joint letter to Speaker Edmund S. Villagomez and Senate President Edith Deleon Guerrero on March 6, CNMI Supreme Court Chief Justice Alexandro C. Castro and Superior Court Presiding Judge Roberto C. Naraja said their budget submission represents the necessary funds to support judicial services on Saipan, Tinian and Rota.
For the second consecutive year, they said their request for funds to construct a new courthouse on Tinian was not included in their budget request. But this omission “does not signify a lack of commitment to initiating this long-awaited project. Rather, it mirrors the current financial constraints faced by the Commonwealth,” they added.
Castro and Naraja said the judiciary remains committed to constructing a new courthouse on Tinian to serve generations to come with various judicial and public services.
They said the judiciary’s FY 2025 budget proposal is designed to retain current personnel and expand services through requested and previously granted but unfunded NOPs or Number of Positions. Their budget submission also highlights the role of the judiciary staff in ensuring uninterrupted judicial services on Saipan, Tinian and Rota.
To achieve their objectives, Castro and Naraja said they seek the following:
1) Retention of existing NOPs or Number of Positions.
2) Local funding for current employees supported by the American Rescue Plan Act.
3) Approval of all requested new NOPs.
4.) Endorsement of a 10% pay raise for judiciary employees.
In FY 2024, Castro and Naraja said the judiciary continued to leverage ARPA funding to enhance service accessibility for Commonwealth residents.
They said ARPA-funded employees played a pivotal role in advancing electronic recording, digitizing historical documents, and collaborating on the court’s new case management system scheduled for launch in 2024.
The launch of this new system will streamline the judicial process and enhance the payment and collection processes for both the Judiciary and the Department of Finance, they said.
Failure to fund these positions would impede the substantial progress achieved in the last two years, Castro and Naraja said.
“While this budget submission addresses the judiciary’s immediate needs amid the Commonwealth’s current financial situation, it does not fully encapsulate the resources required to reach our maximum potential. Despite this, the judiciary remains resolute in its pursuit of securing funding for the Tinian courthouse project, exploring all possible avenues to fulfill this aspiration,” Castro and Naraja said.
