Lolo Returns Budget, Adds 15 Days to Special Session

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Governor Lolo Moliga has sent back to the Fono his Fiscal Year 2021 budget and extended the special session he called last week by another 15 days.
That’s what Lolo told the Fono leaders in an October 6 letter responding to the House Speaker and Senate President’s correspondence informing him that the Fono has reaffirmed the FY2021 budget that they sent him.
According to the governor when Fiscal Year 2020 ended and no official budget was presented him for his action, the budget plan approved by the Legislature was annulled.
He said he was resubmitting the FY2021 financial plan for the Fono’s consideration with an additional 15 days added to the special session.
“Given that you failed to give me a financial plan with all executed actions comprehensively explained, along with your claim that you lack authority to act on a document that you have already rendered a decision on, I am compelled to adopt this pathway so we can revisit our reasons for actions taken previously and to focus on a road that will serve and protect the interest of our people. After all our actions should cater to improving the lives of our people,” wrote the governor.

In his three page response Lolo said the Fono leaders’ recognition of the gravity and the historic nature of this intersection between the two branches of government is “noteworthy “and he had hoped they would examine factors which triggered his unprecedented actions.

“Instead you engaged in citing legal precedence and process anomalies which fail to recognize the disastrous impacts of or commitment to stand fast on the decision rendered to project your defiance and to relay the message that preserving your authority is more important than the lives of the people impacted by this authoritarian posture. “
Lolo said the Fono has made significant changes to the budget but did not extend respect to the governor or any due regard in offering any explanation of the reasons which warranted these extreme changes.
He was critical of the $6.8 million reduction in revenues, saying the Legislature did not provide “empirical data and analysis to justify this major revenue reduction.”

He continued, “Th anecdotal claim that the American Samoa Government had not realized its revenue forecasts in the previous years is irrelevant because the economic dynamics change annually. The Legislature should have provided actual data to support its action. ”

The governor also took issue with the lump sum cuts that the Fono made to agency budgets.

“These were lump sum cuts which yielded no intelligence to me where these cuts that were made in the following budget object classes (personnel, travel, contractual services, materials/supplies equipment or all others, “came from,” he complained.

“All my directors who appeared before the Fono for budget hearings reported that at most, their budget hearings lasted only 5 minutes or less. They were therefore not given the opportunity to justify and provide details on their FY2021 budget plans. The obvious question then, how did the Legislature base its decision to cut agency budgets?”

The governor surmised that the Fono did not place importance on this budget preview process and “it seems obvious that decision to slash the budget had already been made before hand and the budget hearings were just a formality to comply with the intent of the law.”
Concerning the increase in the DOE budget of $2.8 million Lolo said there was no explanation of the hike which was placed in the All Others budget.
“What was the $2.8 million for?”
He explained that the entire workforce of DOE has undergone a complete salary reclassification overhaul to stress the importance of education. And the cost of the reclassification is over this amount because the reclassification for counselors is still pending until the budget is approved.
Governor Lolo thanked the legislative leaders for explaining the $500,000 added to the Fono’s budget and said it was placed under the Governor’s Special Program, “to escape the fact that the Legislature cut all the agency budgets and added this amount to its own budget.” he explanation for the $5000,000 was for offices for lawmakers.
But he said each senator and representative was given $10,000 for the specific purpose of setting up their office at home.
Lolo said the Fono leaders’ recognition of the gravity and the historic nature of this intersection between the two branches of government is “noteworthy “and he had hoped they would examine factors which triggered his unprecedented actions.
“Instead you engaged in citing legal precedence and process anomalies which fail to recognize the disastrous impacts of or commitment to stand fast on the decision rendered to project your defiance and to relay the message that preserving your authority is more important than the lives of the people impacted by this authoritarian posture. “
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