The appropriation bill divides the money between student grants and other programs. During the same session, legislators heard Retirement Fund officials and actuarial experts point out that a firm commitment to pay the employer contribution is needed for the long-term survival of the pension agency. One sign of commitment might be eliminating the SHEFA program. The local school system after all has counselors and advisors that can direct CNMI students to federally and privately funded grants, loans, scholarships, all beefed up by the U.S. government’s efforts to support higher education enrollment in the nation.
And then there are the pet projects and the override of the governor’s veto of a bill that would raise the driver’s license fee and put a driving school out of business.
All this is the priority of politicians who will be running scared in next year’s elections. They have practically given up on the Fund. They know that this broke government cannot and will not make its share of contributions to the agency. They and the governor believe that the Fund is so far in the hole that there is no point making contributions, especially when they have to make payroll and provide some basic public services.
Mercy
THE central government is also not making payments to CUC, leaving power users at the mercy of the utility’s need to buy fuel and cope with its dwindling base of customers. Power rate hikes also threaten the livelihood of small businesses while adding to the cost of doing business in the CNMI, but again, this is not an immediate concern for elected officials who can always go on junkets to “entice more investments.”
Interestingly, as we have noted before, a solar company is proposing to go forth with a project in the northern part of the island. Is this an independent power producer with a license to provide power to power users directly or will CUC buy power from the solar company? At what rate? Will the savings be passed on to the islands’ customers or will the CUC keep the savings to itself? Can any company in the CNMI become an independent power producer? Have we advanced to the point where any power producer, a household, say, can sell power back to the utility? The point is, even if the technology is available and it signals a move in the right direction, where is the plan? Michael Ada, the ARRA guru, spoke on behalf of the project, as a partner in the project, as ARRA coordinator, as ARRA sponsor — it wasn’t clear, but it should be made clear.
We hope that as soon as the details become available, and all local and federal permitting requirements are met, the public will be able to assess if this project has been well-considered from a community standpoint or not.
The sound of crickets
SOME Rota residents have complained that government employees have died without securing the retroactive pay hike mandated by their lawmakers in an election year 20 years ago. The government failed to fund its own generosity and has been scrambling for money since then. But this hasn’t stopped elected officials to think of more ways to spend money they don’t have.
Take the government’s latest harebrained effort to “plan” for the “development” of the remote Northern Islands. After a volcanic explosion that leveled infrastructure on Pagan two decades ago, the government repatriated the folks there, built houses for them, the ones in upper Garapan, which is a move that makes infinite sense.
But since the U.S. military announced an interest in the Northern Islands, the government has moved with lightning speed to create yet another “plan” for the area, designating homesteads for starters, in what will end up as the next big land giveaway.
How will all this be funded and maintained if the government cannot even provide basic services on Saipan, Tinian and Rota?
