‘There’s light at the end of this fiscal year’ 

10/15/2025 - “There’s light at the end of this fiscal year,” declared Office of Management and Budget director Vicky Villagomez last Oct. 14 as the CNMI government signed off on its revised fiscal year 2026 budget—up from the Sept. 22 forecast of $156 million to $158 million.

The revised spending plan, presented at the Governor’s Office conference room on Capitol Hill with Gov. David M. Apatang, Lt. Gov. Dennis C. Mendiola, House Speaker Edmund Villagomez, Sen. Corina Magofna, and Education Commissioner Lawrence F. Camacho in attendance, lays out two starkly different scenarios depending on whether the proposed Marianas Public Land Trust loan comes through.

Under Scenario 1—if the MPLT loan is secured—the Commonwealth will have $138.4 million available for appropriation. Government employees will work 70-hour biweekly schedules, all paid holidays are reinstated, six-hour reduction for departments of Public Safety, Corrections, and Fire and Emergency Medical Services, and the Public School System receives $37.7 million in funding. Key programs such as Medicaid, Northern Marianas College, the Marianas Visitors Authority, and the Medical Referral Program will be fully funded.

But Scenario 2, which assumes no MPLT loan, paints a much harsher picture—only $114.9 million available, workforce hours slashed to 58-hour biweekly, seven holidays left unpaid, and PSS allocations reduced to $35.1 million. CNMI Medicaid, Marianas Visitors Authority, Government Group Health and Life Insurance, and Northern Marianas College would only be funded for two quarters, pending any future budget restoration.

Villagomez said, for now, it’s a waiting game on the $29-million loan from MPLT. 

“We will continue to monitor the MPLT loan status. We will prepare a contingency plan for Q3 and Q4 allocation restoration, and we will continue our collaboration with our leaders and our federal partners,” she said.

Finance Secretary Tracy Norita said the revised budget benefits from a surprise boost of $3.7 million in additional appropriations after final FY 2025 revenue collections came in stronger than forecast, largely due to income tax receipts from the construction sector. The extra funds helped the administration restore holiday pay—a move described as both fiscally and symbolically significant.

“Analysis from my office, finalizing the Q4 report for FY 2025, surprisingly, our year-end collections and collection efforts exceeded our forecast by 5%, from $159.6 million forecasted to $167.3 million, a difference of $7.7 million in gross collections, mainly coming from the income tax category from the construction industry,” she said.

Apatang called the additional revenue a blessing and emphasized the administration’s commitment to balancing austerity with stability. 

“We started with $156 million, so luckily, Santa Claus came around before the end of the fiscal year, and gave us a little bit more help, so we can help the Public School System with additional funding, and the other agencies like the college, the MVA, that are in a critical situation that need additional funding as well,” he said.

While both Apatang and Mendiola praised Norita and Villagomez’s teams for burning the midnight oil in the more palatable spending plan, they also cautioned that continued belt-tightening, agency consolidation, and close monitoring of revenue collection remain necessary.

“There's gonna be some changes, and as OMB said, there's light at the end of the tunnel. And if we realize additional revenue, then who knows, maybe we might go back to just regular 80 hours. But again, no promises are gonna be made, but the point is that we're monitoring the funding, and making sure that we adhere to whatever we're collecting,” said Mendiola.

Apatang even hinted that the CNMI Cannabis Commission may be folded into the Alcoholic Beverage & Tobacco Control Division of the Department of Commerce. 

Report by Mark Rabago