Governor Demonstrates Commitment to Transparency, Accountability to Financial Professionals
Some of Guam’s government accountants showed support for new and ongoing initiatives from Governor Eddie Baza Calvo at their association’s regular meeting this afternoon. Governor Calvo spoke to the group, and highlighted accomplishments and programs he led to improve Guam’s financial health. He is a regular guest speaker for the Association of Government Accountants.
“Accountants don’t deal with meaningless numbers,” Governor Calvo said. “You folks make sure we hire teachers, that we buy medicine, and we repair our patrol cars.”
Governor Calvo touched on his commitment to transparency and accountability, even before he took office in January. A staunch fiscal conservative, Governor Calvo was responsible for the only two surplus budgets in recent years. Once sworn in as Governor, he acted as needed, so the government can continue to help Guamanians, during a serious cash crisis. Public Auditor Doris Brooks was in attendance, and echoed the Governor’s sentiments of the problems created by back-to-back budget deficits.
“Even as we were struggling to make ends meet with a $348 million deficit, our agencies found ways to cut costs. Public Works Director Joanne Brown is saving about $10,000 a month by opening a school bus depot in the south. The Department of Land Management is saving about $11,000 a month after they consolidated rent space,” Governor Calvo said. “Sometimes I just take a step back, and thank the good Lord for the wonderful people who go above and beyond to be more responsible with your money–the people of Guam’s money.”
Aggressive Revenue Collection
Governor Calvo mentioned several new initiatives the administration will begin to increase revenues without raising taxes:
– Ramping up collection efforts for off-island businesses that work on military contracts
– Aggressively recovering debts from Chamorro Land Trust leases
– Finalizing a new property value assessment
“Just by plugging leaks, just by making sure everyone pays the taxes they owe, we can bring in substantially more money to help Guam’s families,” Governor Calvo said. “We don’t need to resort to adding burdens with higher taxes.”
