The 37th Guam Legislature will meet next week Monday for the annual budget session. By law, they have until the end of the month to submit a spending plan to the governor.

KUAM News spoke today with Appropriations Committee vice-chairperson Sen. Telo Taitague, and she said she's expecting a very thorough review of the new Fiscal Year 2024, billion-dollar budget.

"A lot of variables have changed, a lot of financial data has changed, tracking has changed, so you're gonna see some changes. whether it's going to be a higher amount of lower amount we'll know for sure on Monday when we have the budget in front of us," she said.

Taitague says one of the big new impacts to expenses is the 22% pay raises and increments, totaling about $46 million. So expect senators to also arm wrestle, as they typically do, over the revenue projections, which determines how much they're able to spend.

Taitague projected, "I think this year we're not going to have so much of a leeway like we've done before being really conservative on the last three budgets knowing that the surplus has been quite a bit. I think now is the time that if there's any interpretation of this budget you'll be more revenue, then that revenue is going to be spent, upfront. not anticipating any more surplus at the end of the fiscal year."

The total revenue for the current fiscal year, including the General Fund, special fund, and federal grants, totaled $1.02 billion. Taitague's not sure yet, but expects the coming fiscal year's number to be higher, noting, "You know that the majority, almost 90% percent of everyone that came in front of us during budget is increased. So let's add that 3% increase for each agency, yeah you're looking at almost about $100 million additional."

Meanwhile, Bureau of Budget Management & Research director Lester Carlson, one of the governor's top financial advisers who typically represents the administration during budget sessions, is on medical leave and is not expected to attend. Adelup says Department of Administration director Edward Birn will take over for him, with support from other BBMR representatives.