Mayor Donald G. Flores yesterday said the Department of Finance transferred $45,000 to his office’s account.
The amount was taken from the mayor’s personnel fund which the governor wanted to reduce, Flores said.
“What Finance did, they used our own personnel account. There’s no new money,” he added.
A month after Flores assumed office, Gov. Benigno R. Fitial removed the funds for 12 positions in the mayor’s office.
Flores is affiliated with the Republican Party while the governor is with the Covenant Party.
“The funding for the 12 positions that were removed — I’m surprised that it’s still there although they didn’t allow me to hire,” Flores said.
He said he will continue to ask the governor to retain the funding for the 12 personnel.
The mayor’s office needs the personnel to deliver basic services to the community, Flores added.
Liberation Committee Chairman Jonas Barcinas said the $45,000 will be used to pay the vendors , the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. and other obligations they have incurred for the month-long festivities.
He expressed gratitude to the lawmakers and the executive branch for allocating the funds, especially Reps. Ray Tebuteb, George Camacho, Ray Yumul, Diego Benavente, Lt. Gov. Eloy Inos and Gov. Benigno Fitial.
“Since this activity has been in existence for 64 years, why now are we going to ignore it? We should be moving forward in making our event successful and not go backwards,” Barcinas said.
