by Mindy Aguon

Guam - After months of review and consideration on how to cut $43 million annually, recommendations proposed by the Spending Cuts Task Force were just released and will be presented to the Legislature. Bureau of Budget and Management Research Director John Rios is making a presentation to lawmakers today on the upcoming fiscal year budget and is expected to outline specific areas the Governor has cleared to save the government money and possibly avert layoffs.

The recommendations include:

An early retirement program
Extension of the amortization period to pay down the Unfunded Liability
Reduction of holiday pay to industry standard from the current double time to time and a half
Elimination of GFD non-productive pay and reduction of GFD overtime to six hours
Elimination of GFD incentive pay
Elimination of annual leave cash out
Reduction of paternity leave to industry standard
Cap on leave sharing to 480 hours per occasion, limited to medical reasons

According to a press release, the Governor's Office and the Department of Administration are collaborating to design the Omnibus Fiscal Reform Package of 2012, a bill containing all legislative authority to make these cuts and implement this program. Depending on how many people opt to take the early retirement program, officials will determine how the savings can be reinvested to implement the Hay Study.

The Governor did not approve all the recommendations of the task force shooting down the following suggestions:

Elimination of hazardous pay (however, the Governor said such compensation should be built into the base pay of these officers, then this provision of the law should be eliminated)
Elimination of night differential pay (same as above – build into base pay, then eliminate this provision of law)
Elimination of nurses' weekend and certification differential pay
Elimination of DRT 10 percent premium pay