by Ken Quintanilla

Guam - After months of discussion even getting feedback from village meetings, the recommendations are finally here. And while it's a direction the Calvo Administration says is more required than desired, it ultimately may avert the need for layoffs.

After months of review and consideration on how to cut $43 million annually, recommendations proposed by the Spending Cuts Task Force have finally been released. "It's not a popular thing to do," noted according to Acting Governor Ray Tenorio, adding that it takes a lot of courage to advance these ideas but says frankly the recommendations are rather restrained.

"We need to make sense of what we're doing and a lot of people have contributed substantially to this progress report and the final recommendations, but there are other recommendations I think that will follow," he said.

The recommendations include an early retirement program that is estimated to cut $15-$35 million in annual spending, extension of the amortization period to pay down the unfunded liability by 10 years with $28.1 million in cuts, reduction in holiday pay cutting over $4 million, nearly $3 million in cuts through the elimination of GFD non-productive pay plus reduction of GFD overtime to six hours, elimination of GFD incentive pay, elimination of annual leave cash out, reduction of paternity leave to industry standards and a cap on leave sharing to 480 hours per occasion, limit to medical reasons.

And while it appears that GFD took several cuts, Tenorio says they were not targeted. "None of the public safety agencies are being targeted 1842, the governor in the release indicated that hazardous pay was not recommended for change at this time, but it needs to be made part of the base compensation," he added.

Among the list of recommendations the governor did not approve include elimination of hazardous pay, elimination of night differential pay, elimination of nurses' weekend and certification differential pay and eliminating of DRT 10% premium pay.

And according to Speaker Judi Won Pat, she says the cuts are now an issue the Legislature and the governor's fiscal team needs to meet and further discuss. "When you're talking about something as major as this, this is something that everybody needs to sit and talk about," she stated.

But she realizes that cuts are being at a time when the government is facing a difficult financial situation. "And there are several things the Governor has started to do to address that with reorganization, consolidation to avoid redundancies which of course are first steps and further steps may be taken," she said.

Ultimately, they both agree that any way to avert the need for layoffs is the right thing to do. Tenorio said, "We don't want to layoff or furlough or otherwise remove people, we need more people working in the government, but we simply cannot afford to continue to do the things that legislatively don't make sense."

The Governor's Office and DOA meanwhile are collaborating to design the Omnibus Fiscal Reform Package of 2012 - a bill containing all legislative authority to make cuts and implement the program. The release also noted that 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.