They are questioning the increase to the Education Department, UPR, and other agencies.
In photo, President of the Senate, Jose Luis Dalmau; Chamber President, Rafael Hernandez; and Governor, Pedro Pierluzzi Urrutia.
Photo: File/Juan R. Costa
In a letter to the Legislative Assembly, the Financial Supervisory Board (JSF) announced that the budget for the next financial year, which the body seeks to approve today, is not in line with the financial plan.
The company’s managing director, Robert F. The letter signed by Mujica said the board had given the legislature until June 14 to amend the budget, but the legislative body did not meet the required deadline.
The Legislature’s declaration of noncompliance is important because it establishes the possibility of an approved budget that the financial institution will later amend, as authorized by the Puerto Rico Oversight, Administration, and Economic Stability Act (PROMESA), Puerto Rico will not meet the balanced budget requirement.
PROMESA specifies that if the Board of Finance is to leave the island, the Board, the Executive and the Legislature must achieve four running balanced budgets, i.e. four years of balanced budgets.
In the 15-page letter, the board also establishes agency budget lines to be revised.
Some of those games include:
– Department of Education (DE):The budget establishes a $6.1 million increase to, among other things, provide educational and psychological services to students who drop out or drop out of school and open additional Montessori schools. The board approves a $5.7 million increase for DE and not $6.1 million.
– University of Puerto Rico (UPR): The budget contemplates an increase of $118 million to cover salary increases, recruitment of researchers, etc. The board believes the budget increase is high and should be $102 million, or $16 million less than proposed.
– Legislature: The Legislature is looking to increase its own budget by about $13.8 million to fund, among other things, the House, Senate, the Office of the Comptroller of the Capitol and the Office of Legislative Services and legislative offices in counties. The board, for its part, denied $9.3 million to fund legislative offices and established in its letter that it supports a budget increase of $3.5 million and not $13.8 million.
– Office of the Governor: The Legislature includes a $2.4 million increase for the governor’s office to “carry out projects.” However, the board says in its communication that no information about these “plans” has been provided, so they are denying approval for that budget hike.
– Department of Labor and Human Resources (DTRH): An increase of $2.3 million was requested. The House says that some detailed proposals for this increase have already been considered in the previous budget and funds have been earmarked to cover them. They did not approve the budget increase.
– Institute of Puerto Rican Culture (ICP): Established a $70,000 increase in its budget that seeks to fund the renovation of the Francisco Figueroa Cultural Center in Arroyo. “Insufficient data has been provided to support the cost of this application,” the board says.
To view all budget items against which the company is opposed, Click here.
© 360 Telecom Corporation
