Public Auditor Michael Pai said OPA spent about $1.3 million in fiscal year 2008, the bulk of which went to personnel expenses.
“Nearly $1 million was spent on personnel and approximately $300,000 went toward all other expenses. OPA staffing has significantly reduced from a peak of 39 in 2000 to 20 by the end of FY 2008,” he said in his office’s latest fiscal report.
To help sustain its operations, OPA is constitutionally guaranteed to receive 1 percent of all local appropriations and 1 percent of the operations budgets of all public corporations and autonomous agencies.
In FY 2006, OPA requested for a $2.23 million budget but received only $1.7 million. The following fiscal year, its actual budget totaled $1.4 million.
A law was amended granting the Public School System a waiver to contribute 1 percent of its operations budget for OPA during fiscal years 2006 and 2007 so that the money could be used to buy textbooks.
Pai said OPA supports special waivers like that of PSS to meet the community’s need for quality education.
