Vice Speaker Fetui Fetu repeatedly called during the joint budget hearings for the Fono to require departments to list details of allocations in two categories of their proposed budgets. He also wants this to become the standard for all future budget formats.
The Vice Speaker keeps referring to the budget of the Attorney General’s Office as the reason why departments should provide details of how funds in these two budget categories would be spent.
When Attorney General Gwen Tauiliili-Langkilde testified on her office budget last week, Senate President Tuaolo Manaia Fruean’s line of questioning delved into her salary and benefits.
The AG stated that her salary is $124,000, which includes a housing allowance of $1,800 per month and a monthly utility allowance of $500.
She explained that these allowances are part of a benefit package for all attorneys, which was started in 2022 to attract lawyers for the AG’s Office. When asked if Deputy AG Roy Hall also receives an allowance, the AG replied yes.
Tauiliili-Langkilde, a former District Court judge, pointed out that the $124,000 salary she was receiving was less than what she had been paid in her former job.
“So if you weren’t given these extra benefits, you wouldn’t have agreed to be AG?” asked Tuaolo.
The AG calmly responded that this was not true, and repeated that the allowances had been in place from the past with the intention to offer competitive salaries to attract attorneys. She recalled that in 2022, there was only one prosecutor in the AG’s Office. She added that the allowances were included in the AG’s Office budget in the last fiscal year and the year prior.
She believed that the benefit package has helped with the recruitment of attorneys. Now, the office has six attorneys, one new hire arrived last week, and by the end of the year, there should be nine. The allowances are included in the Contractual Services category of the AG’s budget.
The Senate President said this was the first time he had heard of such allowances.
In response to this and similar concerns, Vice Speaker Fetui has formally recommended to the Joint Budget Committees that a change be made for future government budgets. He proposed that departments list the spending of all appropriations in the “All Others” and “Contractual Services” categories. He noted that the amounts allocated for these categories run in the millions, and the Fono should know how the funds are being spent.
