Governor presents fiscal reform plan
By PRWOW News
Gov. Anibal Acevedo Vila on Thursday revealed a series of measures to cut government spending as part of his fiscal reform plan.
The governor’s proposal consists of the following 18 measures:
1. Create a plan to reduce the central government deficit in three years with the approval of the Legislative Assembly.
2. Create a law to make government spending proportionate to the island’s economic growth.
3. Create a Fund of Pressing Interest in order to deposit surpluses to attend to the pension fund deficit, outstanding agency debts, and the Public Improvement Fund.
4. “Pay as you go” (PAYGO) – This measure will require the earmarking of funds for new programs or projects. This bill has already been filed as Senate Bill 1143 and the Government & Labor Affairs Committee has issued a positive report.
5. Once the structural deficit is eliminated, the administration will be forbidden to use public debt in order to cover operating deficits.
6. Ban money transfers between agencies as a means to control government spending.
7. Allow agencies to maintain budget surpluses for two years. These funds may not be used to cover recurrent expenses; only permanent improvements.
8. Submit in-detail report of the financial activity of each government agency 90 days from the end of each fiscal year.
9. Hire more non-profit organizations to provide services to the community. For example: SER de Puerto Rico will provide special education services to public school students.
10. Increase the matching of funds with municipal governments in order to share costs at different levels and delegate responsibility on municipal government structures to implement programs.
11. Eliminate vacant positions from the agency’s classification plan after a thorough evaluation of the Office of Management & Budget and the Commonwealth Human Resources Office.
12. Use economic incentives to promote early retirement.
13. Evaluate the solvency of each government agency to determine whether an early retirement plan can be implemented to reduce the number of people on the government payroll and improve administrative efficiency.
14. Create incentives for private employers who hire government employees.
15. Consolidate government agencies.
16. Create a Permanent Committee comprised of members of the executive and legislative branches, as well as the private sector in order to conduct periodic evaluations of the needs and purposes of different programs, incentives, subsidies, and government agencies and eliminate those that are no longer necessary.
17. The Government Development Bank will create a database of public properties in order to conduct comprehensive studies on how to better use these resources in economic, social, and environmental terms.
18. Create a Fiscal and Administrative Reform Committee at the Education Department, consisting of a multi-sectorial committee in charge of evaluating the agency’s budget and administrative situation to find creative solutions to the department’s deficit. Recommendations will be effective the first day of fiscal year 2007.
Copyright © 2000 - 2006 Casiano Communications Inc. All rights reserved.
By PRWOW News
Gov. Anibal Acevedo Vila on Thursday revealed a series of measures to cut government spending as part of his fiscal reform plan.
The governor’s proposal consists of the following 18 measures:
1. Create a plan to reduce the central government deficit in three years with the approval of the Legislative Assembly.
2. Create a law to make government spending proportionate to the island’s economic growth.
3. Create a Fund of Pressing Interest in order to deposit surpluses to attend to the pension fund deficit, outstanding agency debts, and the Public Improvement Fund.
4. “Pay as you go” (PAYGO) – This measure will require the earmarking of funds for new programs or projects. This bill has already been filed as Senate Bill 1143 and the Government & Labor Affairs Committee has issued a positive report.
5. Once the structural deficit is eliminated, the administration will be forbidden to use public debt in order to cover operating deficits.
6. Ban money transfers between agencies as a means to control government spending.
7. Allow agencies to maintain budget surpluses for two years. These funds may not be used to cover recurrent expenses; only permanent improvements.
8. Submit in-detail report of the financial activity of each government agency 90 days from the end of each fiscal year.
9. Hire more non-profit organizations to provide services to the community. For example: SER de Puerto Rico will provide special education services to public school students.
10. Increase the matching of funds with municipal governments in order to share costs at different levels and delegate responsibility on municipal government structures to implement programs.
11. Eliminate vacant positions from the agency’s classification plan after a thorough evaluation of the Office of Management & Budget and the Commonwealth Human Resources Office.
12. Use economic incentives to promote early retirement.
13. Evaluate the solvency of each government agency to determine whether an early retirement plan can be implemented to reduce the number of people on the government payroll and improve administrative efficiency.
14. Create incentives for private employers who hire government employees.
15. Consolidate government agencies.
16. Create a Permanent Committee comprised of members of the executive and legislative branches, as well as the private sector in order to conduct periodic evaluations of the needs and purposes of different programs, incentives, subsidies, and government agencies and eliminate those that are no longer necessary.
17. The Government Development Bank will create a database of public properties in order to conduct comprehensive studies on how to better use these resources in economic, social, and environmental terms.
18. Create a Fiscal and Administrative Reform Committee at the Education Department, consisting of a multi-sectorial committee in charge of evaluating the agency’s budget and administrative situation to find creative solutions to the department’s deficit. Recommendations will be effective the first day of fiscal year 2007.
Copyright © 2000 - 2006 Casiano Communications Inc. All rights reserved.
