March 8, 2018
Hagåtña — Senators today, facing a possible solution to the $67 million shortfall in Sen. Joe San Agustin’s bill, still haven’t reached a decision.
This is the eighth special session that the Governor has called them in hopes that they would pass a bill that bridges the $67 million gap.
Meanwhile, GovGuam line agencies just barely made payroll today. And future payroll — without a solution from Senators — is unknown.
Reality isn’t going to wait for senators to understand the enormity of what we’re facing. We have made cuts to help control costs. We’ve cut down on overtime, cut down energy consumption, hiring, increments, travel, new purchases and did not renew contracts 40-plus limited-term employees (we’re anticipating more of those, and executive security – and there’s more.
Additionally, we have started the furlough process, which would save on personnel costs by implementing 32-hour workweek (this translates to a 20% reduction for thousands of GovGuam employees.)
Session resumes at 1 p.m. tomorrow. Hopefully, Senators will realize that they have the responsibility of finding revenues to address the $67 million shortfall. No one else can do it.