Calvo Favors Pay Hikes For Guam Government Employees HAGÅTÑA, Guam (Pacific Daily News) – Government of Guam workers who’ve been waiting for a new, higher pay scale to bring their compensation closer to national levels might get a shot next fiscal year, if senators agree. Gov. Eddie Calvo yesterday said he’s urging lawmakers to include funding for pay increases in the budget, as was proposed by his administration. And because there no longer is a deficit, millions that normally would be set aside to reduce the deficit can instead be spent on pay increases, according to the governor. This year, GovGuam needed close to $129 million for tax refunds because years of unpaid refunds —and the interest on that obligation — made the tab high. But this coming fiscal year, GovGuam won’t be carrying over a lot of unpaid tax refunds and the interest payments on late tax refunds, the governor said. The governor estimated the tax refund amount for next fiscal year would be $113 million. The difference between this year’s tax refund obligation and next year’s will pay for the pay increases, he said. That amount is about $11 million. However, Sen. Ben Pangelinan, D-Barrigada, who chairs the Legislature’s Office of Finance and Budget, said the governor’s estimate for refunds is $16 million below what the Department of Revenue and Taxation has said will be needed. Rev and Tax Director John Camacho said during session Wednesday that the $129 million his agency submitted was an estimated figure. However, the $113 million figure submitted in the governor’s budget reflected a more accurate picture about what is needed, he said. Pangelinan said the governor’s budget, submitted earlier this year, didn’t include the Hay study raises, so the substituted version created by lawmakers also doesn’t include those raises. Troy Torres, the governor’s director of communication, said when the administration submitted the budget, it didn’t know the deficit was gone. "Since we didn’t know the deficit was gone, we left the 2-percent reserve (about $11 million) in the budget for deficit reduction," he said. He said the administration told lawmakers to not use the $11 million. "The governor very clearly told senators he wanted to use those revenues for the Hay plan implementation. We are hoping other senators come forward to stick up for the employees and make the amendment to the budget chair’s substitute bill," Torres said. The governor said the administration doesn’t overestimate cash collections when budgeting for the next fiscal year, so he’s confident there will be cash for the Hay study raises, which would be funded if the Legislature agrees with him. The governor said implementing the pay raises would help improve the morale of GovGuam workers who "work long hours under stressful conditions without the resources they need, all the while earning only a fraction of the value they put in." Former Gov. Felix Camacho implemented the pay raises shortly before leaving office, but Calvo rescinded them after taking office, saying the government couldn’t afford it. "We have an opportunity to make this right in the upcoming fiscal year. There is real money to back up this promise in a responsible and sustainable way," the governor said. Pangelinan, however, said at this point, there isn’t any way to fund the pay raises. He said if the governor wanted to fund the payments, he could use the estimated $18 million that would be saved by allowing a single health insurance provider to provide coverage to all government workers. Calvo instead wants employees to be able to choose from different insurance providers, which Pangelinan said is a more expensive option and saves the government only $1 million. The Hay study, if implemented, would bring GovGuam pay scales closer to current market levels for new hires, but not for senior personnel. The Hay Group concluded it would be prohibitively expensive for GovGuam to bring its pay scale fully in line with national compensation levels.
Posted on: Tue, 20 Aug 2013 08:27:48 +0000
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