The Northern Marianas government, which has been struggling to meet its financial commitments for some time, is considering raising taxes.
This is one of a number of options the Lieutenant Governor, Eloy Inos, says are being mulled over.
He says there could be more changes to the reduced work hours of some public servants, while overtime pay, which has already been cut may be further pared back, and more taxes will be considered.
Mr Inos says these are some of the options that the Fitial administration is looking at to balance its 2011 budget, as well as for generating additional revenue and cutting costs in the following year.
He says laying staff off remains a last resort.
