The House Ways and Means Committee conducts a budget hearing at the Tinian court house on Wednesday.
TINIAN Mayor Edwin P. Aldan and Resident Finance Director Milissa A. Mendiola on Wednesday asked members of the House Ways and Means Committee to be fair when making budget decisions.
Aldan and other Tinian municipal officials appeared before the committee chaired by Rep. Ralph N. Yumul at a budget hearing conducted at the Tinian courthouse.
According to the mayor, the governor’s proposed budget did not include the 24 Tinian employees funded by the island’s share of American Rescue Plan Act funds.
He said these employees were originally CNMI-funded and have been with the mayor’s office for years.
Aldan said the governor’s budget proposal also “zeroed” out seven other employees in the middle of fiscal year 2024 who will remain unfunded in the FY 2025 budget proposal.
Essentially, he said the governor’s FY 2025 budget proposal eliminates the positions of 31 employees of the Tinian Mayor’s Office.
“I’m here to strongly advocate on behalf of these individuals and to remind this committee that these are not just names on a piece of paper but actual individuals just like you and me, who have families to feed and financial obligations to meet,” the mayor said.
“How is it fair that within the entire CNMI budget submission only these individuals were singled out to be terminated? Therefore, my first critical ask to this committee is to do the right thing. Let’s not play with people’s lives and let’s reinstate the funding for the continued employment of 31 [employees],” Aldan said.
He added, “We are one Commonwealth and we shall all be treated equally. So let’s start today with the passage of a fair budget.”
Mendiola, for her part, expressed hope that the House committee can work together to find solutions and provide the funds needed to continue the services “we are all mandated to provide.”
“After all, we are one CNMI and all three islands deserve equality. With that, we entrust you with making fair decisions in supporting the budget request that we presented to you,” she said.
In his revised FY 2025 budget submission, Gov. Arnold I. Palacios did not change the allotted amount for Tinian: $6.69 million of which $2.8 million is for the Tinian Mayor’s Office. In FY 2024, the Tinian Mayor’s Office budget was $2.5 million, but it also received $3.6 million in ARPA funds.
For FY 2025, Aldan requested $4.5 million for the Tinian Mayor’s Office.
Mendiola, in particular, asked the committee to fund Tinian Finance’s three additional employees — an administrative officer, a revenue technician and a supply technician.
She said the biggest challenge of her department is the lack of funds for operation. She said it is a great challenge to manage a resident department without funds to equip personnel with necessary materials and supplies so they can carry out their duties efficiently and continue providing services to the community.
Mendiola said she had reached out to Finance Secretary Tracy B. Norita via email. She said although Norita “acknowledged the issue,” there was no assistance provided as of Wednesday.
Fortunately, she said, the Tinian Mayor’s Office has been able to assist the resident department, allowing them to operate “at a basic capacity.”
To date, she said, Tinian’s Finance Department has received a little over $50,000 in assistance for office space rent, communications, fuel and other operational costs such as office supplies for revenue generating sections. She said Tinian Finance has no revolving account.
The Tinian mayor’s chief of Staff, Allen M. Perez, said in the current fiscal year, they still have ARPA funds for the Resident Finance Department’s office rent. But once ARPA funds run out at the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30, 2024, Finance will not be able to rent office space.
Perez said there will be a “stronger demand” for Tinian office spaces in the coming fiscal year, which may increase the cost for office space.
Perez said from day one of FY 2024, “the entire municipality was projected at a deficit” primarily because of the personnel costs of Tinian’s Department of Public Safety and Department of Fire and Emergency Medical Services. Their personnel salaries in FYs 2024 and 2025 were budgeted for 70 hours, but police officers and firefighters worked for 84 to 96 hours. “That puts everybody in a deficit, including the mayor’s office,” Perez said.
Besides Yumul, the House Ways and Means Committee members who attended the budget hearing on Tinian were Reps. John Paul P. Sablan, Patrick San Nicolas, Manny Gregory Castro, Angelo Camacho and Marissa Flores.
