CNMI administration restores 80-hour pay period

Northern Marianas Governor Arnold Palacios announced that government employees will return to an 80-hour pay period. However, some cost containment measures are still in place.

“Today the Lt. Governor and I will issue an executive directive restoring the reduced hours of executive branch employees back to 80 hours per pay period,” said Gov. Palacios. 

After 18 months, about 700 government workers will see their first full paycheck right before Thanksgiving as the new payroll cycle begins on Nov. 3rd. 

“One top question is how long this will last? And so I would like to reiterate that the budget is an annual appropriation and so we will be working closely with OMB to propose a revised budget to FY25. But again, we are working within the fiscal year alone,” said Tracy Norita, CNMI Secretary of Finance. 

So where is the money coming from?

“The funding is going to be a combination of…some ARPA, some federal grants, some adjustments with cost containment and other budgeted items in the budget . We could not do this with the existing funding last fiscal year,” said Palacios. 

The administration said the full reprogramming authority provided by the legislature allowed the move to happen sooner. 

Some cost containment measures are still in place. KUAM asked Palacios about the timing of the news so close to the election.

“Unfortunately…other people might say this is a political ploy. No it isn't. It doesn't matter to me about the politics,” he added. 

You can watch the full press conference on KUAM News’ Facebook page.