The law states that employees entitled to a retroactive salary adjustment of less than $5,000 will receive their full payment, but those entitled to more than $5,000 will only get partial payments until the funds are exhausted.
Speaking on behalf of other workers, Ben Borja, the retired resident director of the Department of Public Safety, said they are again asking the office of the Tinian’s mayor to release the funds due to them.
The last payment of $2,082 to each worker was made on March 2, 2007, Borja said, and since then, no funds have been released.
The payment of retroactive salary adjustment should be complied only until August 1994.
On Dec. 29, 2006, Gov. Benigno R. Fitial signed a local bill that appropriated $403,737 from the license fee and taxes received from the Tinian Dynasty Hotel and Casino.
The funds were earmarked for the payment of the retroactive salary adjustments on Tinian.
Borja said Tinian Mayor Jose P. San Nicolas must explain why he cannot allocate the salary adjustment payment when the law mandated the municipal government to apportion 50 percent of its collections from the Dynasty license fees.
“That’s the obligation of the mayor’s office — to allocate the funds,” he told Variety.
Tinian Municipal Treasurer David Maratita, in a separate interview, admitted they were not able to make payments.
“But it’s the priority of the municipal government to make payments,” he added.
However, Maratita said the municipal government depends on its collections from Dynasty, which, he added, has been affected by the economic crisis.
Maratita said most employees entitled to get the retroactive salary adjustment from the $403,737 have been fully paid.
He said the amount they have is not sufficient to pay the remaining retroactive salary adjustments.
“The municipal government leadership will decide when to make the payments,” he added.
Maratita said the surviving relatives of workers entitled to the retroactive salary adjustment will receive the money.
