The American Samoa Power Authority, has been impacted by the suspension of tuna production at Samoa Tuna Processors and the fishing restrictions imposed on the tuna industry.
ASPA’s Managing Director Paul Young puts it into perspective: Prior to its closure, Samoa Tuna Processors represented about 7% of ASPA’s total revenues or approximately $300,000 of monthly revenue.
Last month, Samoa Tuna Processors revenue from all utility services was just under $70,000.
Young said also like the government, ASPA has been impacted by the Trump Administration’s on-going funding deliberations.
For example, there has been a dramatic slowdown in the authority’s reimbursement from FEMA
Listeners will recall that in November of last year, ASPA Executive Director Utu Abe Malae confirmed that ASPA was planning to furlough employees to make up for a shortfall.
He said, “ASPA had accumulated too much accounts payable over the years and was planning to cut about $150,000 per month from payroll, goods and services. *
Five months after that announcement, comes word that ASPA has drastically reduced its accounts payables from $14.4 million in August of last year to around $2.2 million last Monday.
Young says the reduction has been achieved by addressing the authority’s grants reimbursement backlog, implementing new purchasing controls, revamping warehousing functions and reducing spending.
He credits that this dramatic reduction could only be achieved through the collaboration of our operations and support services staff.
Human Resources operations are also getting attention.
Young says ASPA has implemented a “net-zero” policy.
That is new personnel can only be hired if there is an equal reduction; typically through attrition or retirement.
He says the first priority for vacant positions are given to current staff.
If no qualified candidate is located in-house then the position is advertised externally.
According to the managing director, through the use of technology and process re-engineering, they are finding that some of the vacated positions can be eliminated.
Young said a reduction-in-force, while still on the table, represents a last resort in addressing this challenge.
He points out that ASPA ‘s workforce has dropped from 460 in July of last year to 421 last Monday, April 10, 2017
This was achieved solely through attrition and retirement.
Young explains, the reduction in accounts payables and staff are a remarkable achievement by our dedicated workers.
Unfortunately, he said, much remains to be done to avoid rate increases.
