by Ken Quintanilla

Guam - About $4 million in merit bonuses were mailed out late this afternoon to about 1,300 individuals formally employed with the Government of Guam.

With many merit bonuses already paid to current employees, Governor Eddie Calvo says today's distribution is in line with the administration's commitment to the people of Guam.

"This is just again moving forward in making good on the promises made by our government," said the governor. The Department of Administration mailed out about $4 million to former government line-agency employees who have waited years - some more than two decades - for their merit bonuses. "And a lot of them have done their jobs in an exemplary manner and have not for whatever reason been compensated to this point 0423 they've been very patient and I want to thank them for their patience," he added.

It was back in June when Governor Calvo signed an executive order announcing the eliminated deficit as well as a surplus for Fiscal Year 2012. This allowed for the use of the FY2013 2% reserves to pay off $5 million in merit bonuses owed to former line agency employees and all owed DOE employees. Basically Governor Calvo says, the payout is as a result of top quality cash management. "We feel very good about the revenues we've taken in and we've taking in more than we've been paying out and we're still able to pay for these obligations. This will not in any way hinder us giving out tax refunds, paying out bills and paying our normal payroll," he said.

In fact, Governor Calvo says another large payout of tax refunds should be out by the end of this summer. And along with the 1,300 count, an additional 300 former employees will also be eligible for their merit bonuses as DOA is currently reconciling past personnel files.

In the meantime, DOA asks that recipients allow up to a week for the checks to go through the postal service. And with some dating back since 1991, they note that if you don't receive a check immediately, it may be because it was sent to an old address. It's recommended you follow-up with DOA in that case. You can view the list of 1,300 at http://governor.guam.gov.