Governor Pulaalii Nikolao Pula informed Fono leaders by letter Monday night that he has signed the Fiscal Year 2026 budget bill into law.
He said his office received the budget bill at about 3:34 p.m. Monday, and despite only having a few hours before the start of the new fiscal year, “I have reviewed and signed the measure in the interest of ensuring normal government operations and upholding our shared duty to the people of American Samoa.”
He continued, “I recognize that the Legislature has appropriated $141,268,000 in local revenue with total expenditures of $140,749,000, leaving a net excess of $519,000 in local revenue. He told the House Speaker and Senate President he plans to allocate this net excess in furtherance of his constitutional authority under appointments, administration and supervision of executive office and personnel under Article IV, Sec 7 of the Revised Constitution.
This section states that the Governor shall have general supervision and control of all executive departments, agencies, and instrumentalities of the Government of American Samoa.
The $519,000 is the total amount of the director salaries that were removed or reduced in the FY2026 budget bill.
The Governor said this approach balances the Fono’s constitutional role over appropriations with the Governor’s authority over appointments. “Most importantly, it allows our Government to continue services to the people uninterrupted.”
The Fiscal Year 2026 budget totals $808, 074,113, which is lower than the budget total that was in the original budget bill submitted by the administration. It has been explained that the Budget Office revised the budget numbers after errors were discovered in the budgets of some departments, and this revision took place before the budget bill went through final review.
The budget bill that was signed into law lists the total amount in the summary at $808,074,113 but in the details the total budget amount is $807,555,113.
