OPA assesses GovGuam's liabilities

by Sabrina Salas Matanane

Guam - At the request of Governor Eddie Calvo after taking office in January, the Office of Public Accountability conducted an assessment of the Government of Guam's liabilities which included unfunded and unbudgeted items.

Here's a summary of what the Guam OPA found:

1. GovGuam overspent by $83.6 million for FY 2010, brining the cumulative deficit to $349M as of September 30, 2010
2. For FY2011, the deficit is expected to increase by $23.7M to $34.1M due to the permanent injunction against DMHSA to pay $14M and the unbudgeted increases in health insurance premiums ranging from $9.7M to $20.1M
3. The Retirement Fund (GGRF) received an unintended windfall ranging from $14.8M to $18.1M for lost opportunity income or interest-only payments.

As a result of the findings the Guam OPA recommended the following:

1. enactment of legislation to apply GGRF unintended windfall to the remaining retirement liability balances of the Department of Education and the Guam Memorial Hospital Authority
2. for the Department of Revenue and Taxation to seek technical assistance funding to fully automate and efficiently process tax returns, refunds and collections
3. revisit FY2011 budget to minimize the expected over expenditure of $23.7M to $34.1M
4. Enactment of legislation to remove the word "automatic" to the merit bonus law
5. Posting of quarterly financial reports to include working trial balance and statement of Revenues, Expenditures, and Changes in Fund Balance, on the DOA web site within 30 days after the quarter

• VIEW THE REPORT ON GUAMOPA.ORG