HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — A proposal to cut maintenance staff positions for village mayors and hand them over to the Department of Public Works was met with almost universal disdain from members of the Mayors’ Council of Guam on Wednesday.
Council vice president and Sinajana Mayor Robert Hofmann called the possibility, which came in the form of a fiscal year 2024 budget proposal from the legislative Office of Finance and Budget, a “massive disrespect.”
Mayors spent over two hours airing their frustrations Wednesday morning before recessing for lunch.
But Director Lester Carlson of the Bureau of Budget and Management Research told The Guam Daily Post after the meeting that the episode was “unwarranted.” He said the front office was ready to shore up any shortfalls for mayors with federal funding.
The proposed cuts are not “set in stone,” said OFB Director Stephen Guerrero, but an idea to deal with the reality that mayors will no longer be getting money from the Guam Highway Fund.
The cuts would see each of the 19 mayors offices losing three community maintenance workers, and DPW would step in to take over their responsibilities, according to Guerrero. Each of the 19 mayors offices has a minimum of five maintenance staff on board.
Those staff positions, but not the workers themselves, would be handed over to Public Works, with the agreement that DPW would take over grass cutting for the villages.
Lawmakers last year cut off the Mayors’ Council of Guam from the Guam Highway Fund, amounting to a $2.8 million loss for the mayors. The fund is meant to go toward the repair of village roads, but had been shunted over to village mayors to pay for community service workers.
The Office of Public Accountability last year found that mayors had spent $2.6 million more than authorized from the fund in 2021. The accountability office suggested mayors be taken off and that the fund be utilized for its intended purpose of road repair.
Lawmakers cut the council off the fund, and the money was sent back to DPW. But Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero agreed to cover the $2.8 million shortfall for fiscal 2023.
The governor had come through on that promise, OFB Director Guerrero said Wednesday, “But we have not received any word to say whether or not she’s going to continue that funding.”
According to Carlson on Wednesday afternoon, however, no request was yet made by the Legislature – which had yet to submit a budget. Mayors still have a portion of American Rescue Plan money set aside for their use, Carlson said.
A report prepared by BBMR shows $5.8 million worth of “non-entitlement unit” funding available for the MCOG.
“If requested to … provide similar supplemental funding, we stand ready to support the very front-line responders at the village level – the Mayors’ Council of Guam,” Carlson said.
The money did not need to be allocated until December 2024, Carlson said, meaning that mayors could be shored up until fiscal year 2025 if need be.
Hofmann: ‘Whose responsibility is it?’
In any case, mayors talked at length about how they would support operations moving forward or deal with any changes.
Mayors knew they would be kicked off the highway fund one day, said council president and Piti Mayor Jesse Alig. While he did not outright support the proposal, he said it did force him to reconsider whether the “mindset” of mayors, who became responsible for every government service from trash collection to traffic control, should be considered.
“Maybe we shouldn’t be grass cutting. Maybe we need to worry about – I need to worry about – the 1,500 people that live in Piti and their livelihood. … And DPW, (Guam Environmental Protection Agency), and (Guam Department of Agriculture) Animal Control, (you) take care of the dogs. Take care of the grass. Take care of the junk cars.”
Partnerships with other agencies would be required, Alig said, if maintenance workers were cut.
Hofmann said mayors were the ones dealing with the community each day – “we are the local government.” They deserve a portion of taxes on everything from liquid fuel to property and alcohol for the work they do, he said, not a cut to their staff.
If lawmakers were going to cut from mayors, lawmakers had better clarify what they wanted from mayors, Hofmann said.
“I think the Legislature needs to ask themselves, and the agencies need to ask themselves: Whose responsibility is it? Whose responsibility is it to handle the homeless? Whose responsibility is (it) to handle medical issues and fire victims? Whose responsibility is (it) to handle flood victims? Whose responsibility is it to handle the fiestas?”
Humåtak Mayor Johnny Quinata said he doesn’t believe other GovGuam agencies could be relied on to do the work his office does.
“If (a) dog dies in Humåtak, how long it’s going to take for them to come down to Humåtak and take the dog out of the street?” he asked.
“I don’t need anybody to cut my grass. That’s why I ran for mayor, to keep my village the way it is now.”
The mayors did not resolve the issue of their budget by the close of Tuesday’s meeting, due to a lack of quorum. A number of ideas were floated to keep the mayors’ council budget balanced and prevent maintenance staff cuts, including keeping the agency’s budget at a status quo of $11 million and redistributing money to villages based on population rather than evenly.
The Legislature is set to entertain the Mayors’ Council of Guam budget next Monday. Alig said they will look to push that date back.
Sinajana Mayor Robert Hofmann raises concerns Wednesday, May 17, 2023, during a Mayors’ Council of Guam regular monthly meeting in Hagåtña.
Director Steve Guerrero of the Office of Finance and Budget displays a sheet of the fiscal year 2024 budget request Wednesday, May 17, 2023, during a Mayors’ Council of Guam regular monthly meeting in Hagåtña.
