The excitement of the availability of funds for some the Senators’ proposed projects was dampened when they learned that Governor Eddie Baza Calvo had already spent the supposed fund.
This developed as former senator Chris Duenas wrote the Rules Committee that the $1.57 M savings realized from fiscal year 2015 was used to pay the tax refunds.
Seven bills, five authored by Senator Frank Aguon, Jr. and two by Senator Nerissa Underwood, earlier identified the initial 2015 fiscal year savings of $1.57 million as their source of funds. These bills are:
Bill No. 153-33 (LS) Introduced by Frank Aguon, Jr. with A. Anthony Ada, R.J. Respicio, and Frank Blas, Jr (Appropriation of $25,000 to the Department of Administration to fund the Fallen Heroes Monument to be erected by the Fallen Heroes of the Pacific Foundation [Guam]).
Bill No. 154-33 (LS) Introduced by Frank Aguon, Jr. with D.G. Rodriguez, Jr. and T.R. Muna Barnes (Appropriation of $100,000 to the Yona Mayor’s Office for the repair of Yona Gym facilities).
Bill No. 155-33 (LS) Introduced by Frank Aguon, Jr. with D.G. Rodriguez, Jr. and T.R. Muna Barnes (Appropriation of $39,000 to the Talafofo Mayor’s Office for the repair and upgrades of the Talafofo baseball field.)
Bill No. 156-33 (LS) Introduced by Frank Aguon, Jr. with D.G. Rodriguez, Jr., T.R. Muna Barnes, and T. Morrison (Appropriation of $273,000 to the DPW for the repair of the Umatac Bridge.)
Bill No. 157-33 (LS) Introduced by Frank Aguon, Jr. with V. Anthony Ada, D.G. Rodriguez, Jr. and T.R. Muna Barnes (Appropriation of $150,000 to the Sinajana Mayor’s Office for the completion of the open air gymnasium, renovations and reconfiguration of the parking lot, and building of playground.)
Bill No. 182-33 (COR) Introduced by Nerissa B. Underwood (Appropriation of $250,000 to University of Guam to address the capital outlay needs in anticipation of the WASC visit.)
Bill No. 183-33 (COR) Introduced by Nerissa B. Underwood (Appropriation of $500,000 to DOE to pay outstanding vendor payments.)
All seven bills are now left hanging as they have no source of funds. The representatives of Adelup, former senator Chris Duenas and DOA Director Anthony Blaz were present during the Legislature’s deliberation on Oct. 21 to shed light on the issue. The legislators ended the session day at a stalemate as they have yet to decide on the proper verbiage relative to authorization and appropriation of funds, as Aguon tries to amend his bills.
One thing is clear though, the projects need a while to be implemented.
Adelup, in a press release said that PL 33-60 which paved the way for the subject savings called for the money to be spent on health-related issues. Since there were no bills appropriating the money, “the governor went to the next priority – tax refunds. The savings helped pay for tax refunds; error-free returns with refunds are paid up to April 28, 2015.”/The Junction News Team
