Rep. Patrick H. San Nicolas (R-Tinian) questioned yesterday why the full-time positions of employees of the Tinian Mayor’s Office have now become federally funded positions when they have traditionally been funded by general funds.
“This, to my knowledge, has never happened in the history of our Commonwealth,” said San Nicolas, who was the only House member present during House’s regular session Thursday that voted “no” to a budget bill introduced by Rep. Ralph N. Yumul (Ind-Saipan).
He said that, as proposed by the Palacios-Apatang administration in the submission of its budget for fiscal year 2024 and in the House of Representatives’ version of the budget, these positions—technically called FTE’s—are now funded with federal dollars. To make matters worse, he said, the American Rescue Plan Act funds that will fund these positions will expire in 2024.
“Will the administration reinstate these positions in the [fiscal year] 2025 budget?” the lawmaker asked.
Last May, the administration submitted the proposed fiscal year 2024 budget that reduced the Tinian Mayor’s Office budget by $2.7 million. San Nicolas said this translates to the non-funding of 124 full-time positions and that the only position funded under the administration’s proposal was the mayor’s position.
He pointed out that the municipal employees who stand to lose their jobs this October under the administration’s budget proposal are the backbone of the Tinian municipal government.
“They have families and obligations,” San Nicolas said.
He said these employees are the hardworking staffers at the Tinian Mayor’s Office such as the Scholarship Program assistants, Dog Control enforcers, Tinian Public Library aides, Youth Affairs coordinators, Green Battalion members who help keep Tinian clean and green, and event coordinators who make the Taga and Pika festivals possible.
San Nicolas said the administration stated in its fiscal year 2024 budget submission that the reduction of $2.7 million was due to the Tinian Mayor’s Office receiving $3 million in ARPA funds in 2022.
He said that, according to the administration, because those funds were unspent by Tinian Mayor Edwin P. Aldan, therefore the Tinian Mayor’s Office should use the ARPA money to fund the 124 positions.
The lawmaker said that, as Aldan explained to the House Ways and Means Committee last July, a bulk of the ARPA funds have been allotted for municipal projects, such as the Tinian Cemetery, the Tachogna Beach Revitalization project, the Tinian Sports Complex, and for the four annual Tinian festivals: Pika, San Jose, BBB, and Taga festivals.
San Nicolas said Aldan, in good faith, sought these ARPA funds to complete long awaited infrastructure projects.
“Why should the municipality be penalized for receiving federal funds?” he asked.
San Nicolas said he reviewed Yumul’s budget legislation, House Bill 23-66, and thanked Yumul and his colleagues on the Ways and Means Committee for attempting to address the municipality’s concern. He noted that, although the bill adds over 20 more positions to the Tinian Mayor’s Office, it is not enough because this still leaves 108 Tinian Mayor’s Office employees who will be unfunded using CNMI funds.
Yumul said yesterday that, under his bill, 25 employees are funded by the general fund and the others are under ARPA.
