In the Northern Mariana Islands, the House Committee on Ways and Means has introduced a budget that appropriates 165-point- 37 million US dollars in resources for fiscal year 2009.
The proposed budget includes $156.7 million of projected government revenue, augmented with $5.17 million in Compact Impact funds and $3.5 million of "unencumbered" money taken from numerous accounts outside the general fund.
A separate $3 million is proposed for the Department of Public Lands, whose revenue is constitutionally reserved for the agency's administrative costs and for investment by the Marianas Public Land Trust, and cannot be used for central government operations.
As expected, the proposed budget provides a lump-sum appropriation of $79.26 million for the Executive Branch.
Except for the $3.63 million for the CNMI Scholarship Office, Gov. Benigno Fitial will have full authority to distribute these funds to the departments and agencies under the Executive Branch.
