Sablan said the loss of funds is due to the CNMI government’s “slow rate of expenditure,” but according to the governor’s office, the congressman failed to get rid of the “regulatory delays” in CIPs.
Sablan, in his letter, told Fitial that the CNMI government’s delay in spending CIP funds has resulted in lower appropriation under the federal government’s FY 2012 budget.
For FY 2012, the CNMI will get only $9.5 million which is less than the commonwealth’s request of $13 million and $500,000 less than the FY 2011 funding.
According to Sablan, Obama’s budget has language allowing the secretary of the Interior to take away infrastructure money from any territory that is slow to spend.
The secretary would be empowered to give the money to another territory that was ready to put it to use.
“I have been warning that this could happen,” said Sablan. “The [Obama] administration won’t keep supporting CIP money for the CNMI, if the CNMI can’t spend it.”
Under the president’s budget, if the rate of expenditure in CIP funds is less than 50 percent, the Interior secretary may take the current year money.
The CNMI’s rate of expenditure, Sablan said, is 32 percent.
This will allow Interior to take the commonwealth’s FY 2012 funding and give it to Guam, American Samoa, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the Freely Associated States.
The CNMI’s slow rate of expenditure is a “multi-year problem — and it is getting worse,” Sablan said.
He added, “Governor, the people of the commonwealth cannot afford the loss of our $10 million to $12 million of annual Covenant funding. We need schools. We need water systems. We need improvements to our electrical productions and distribution facilities. We need sewage collection and treatment to protect our island environment. And we have little capacity to raise funds for these projects on our own.”
“Governor, please, only you can fix the problem. Spend the money the federal government is giving you. Build the infrastructure our economy needs. Put people to work on CIPs,” Sablan said.
Press Secretary Angel A. Demapan said that there are valid reasons for the slow expenditure rate.
He said CIP funds come with stringent requirements that need to be met in order for a project to progress.
If a project, for example, is in an area where an endangered species like the reed warbler is discovered, the project is halted until the appropriate clearance is given by U.S. Fish and Wildlife, Demapan said.
Furthermore, he added, if a project requires assessments or impact studies by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, then the project is stalled until such time that all necessary prerequisites are satisfied.
These are some of the regulatory barriers that tend to stall the commonwealth’s ability to expeditiously spend CIP funds, Demapan said.
“It is not caused by any form of negligence or lack of urgency,” he added.
The Fitial administration, he said, does not want to see a loss in CIP funds.
Demapan said the assistance of Sablan, “as the commonwealth’s voice in the U.S. Congress…is also needed to bring these concerns of ‘regulatory delays’ to the attention of the Congress and work with the administration to ease the barriers that stall CIP expenditure. This is why the administration has constantly stated that it will take a collaborative effort between the local government and the delegate to address the CNMI’s concerns.”
According to Demapan, “Matters of such magnitude should not just be simply brushed aside and left for one component of government.”
