The Budget Director’s call to departments and agencies for their Fiscal Year 2017 budget submissions says that accumulated fund deficits carried over from the predecessor administration inhibited efforts to achieve quality of life enrichment for the people of American Samoa.
Director Cathy Saelua states in her May 25 communication to members of the cabinet that for the last 3 and a half years, the administration’s efforts” to transform the lives of our people through the provision of jobs, reducing financial burden due to the high cost of utilities, improving the quality of educational, healthcare, public safety, transportation and other government services to address the special needs of seniors, youth, low income earners, the impoverished and the physically and mentally challenged, have been constrained by our own narrow economic and revenue base.’
She adds that carry forward accumulated fund deficits from the past further inhibited the administration’s struggles to achieve quality of life enrichment.
Saelua points out that despite these hurdles the current administration has managed to achieve many things.
For example infrastructure improvement projects, access to non federal capital to supplement DOI CIP funds for capital projects, establish a conducive business environment, create more employment opportunities, grow the territory’s Domestic Product, improve the quality of services to our people, rehabilitate the debilitated public highways system, eliminate air and surface transportation nemesis for the Manu’a islands, stabilize banking service constraints, reduce overcrowding conditions in school and numerous others.
As we reported earlier today, Budget Director Saelua set the ceiling for budget requests for FY 2017 on departments’ approved FY2016 budget.
Saelua said any requests above the department’s FY2016 budget should be presented in a supplemental request.
And she said the new year budget should include end of contract payments for directors as the Lolo Lemanu administration ends January 3.
To that end Saelua said that the amounts of the contract payments for directors should be based on at least 500 hours of annual leave.
And the directors’ salary adjustment should be accounted for in departments’ budgets.
The FY2017 budget for ASG will be the main item on the agenda of the fourth regular session of the Fono which begins on the second Monday of July .
