Dela Cruz told Variety on Saturday that the municipal government was able to get money enough to pay the 20 employees of the gaming commission and the municipal treasurer and her assistant.
This became possible because the Tinian Dynasty Hotel and Casino “was able to make a little bit of money to make payroll at least for the month of May,” the mayor said.
He noted that the casino did better in May compared in April “so it was also able to pay its own staff.”
Like the central government, Dela Cruz said the Tinian Dynasty also operates based on its cash flow.
He said every time there’s a problem with the casino revenue, only the staffers of the gaming commission and the municipal treasury are affected.
“These guys have been trying their very best, as a matter of fact, I work with them on a daily basis,” Dela Cruz said.
Tinian Dynasty’s owner Michael Kwan is returning soon from China where he has been meeting with a potential partner, the mayor added.
In an interview on Friday, Rep. Froilan C. Tenorio, Covenant-Saipan, said the leaders and the people of Tinian should have known what was coming.
When Tinian Dynasty started shutting down some of its operations, the Tinian leaders should have foreseen that their main source of revenue was coming to an end, he added.
“How could they not know it?” he asked. “Maybe their delegation was busy spending their $5,000 subsistence allowance here on Saipan.”
Tenorio warned that “the worst has yet to come.”
If things don’t improve, he said a lot of people on Tinian and Rota will lose their jobs.
He said once the deliberation on the fiscal year 2012 budget starts, he will recommend that Tinian and Rota should not get more than what they contribute to the general fund. He noted that in FY 2011, the two islands had contributed only about $ 2 million but they received some $6 million to $7 million.
“This time around, we will not cut the budget for the Public School System, Northern Marianas College, Public Health and Public Safety just to give them more than they bring in to the central government’s coffers,” he added.
