Onra:RespectForGuamLeaders

Borrowed from www.guampdn.com

Read below. Just giving some props to our new Governor Edward Calvo for his very respectable course of action. this is a great example of the type of leadership and sacrfice we need to bring our island and its people forward.

The governor has ordered 10 percent pay cuts to himself, the lieutenant governor and senior staff members at Adelup.

The cut affects 25 of the island’s highest ranking officials, who are “leading by example,” Gov. Eddie Calvo’s office said yesterday. The savings from the salary cuts will total about $157,000 in a year.

Calvo recently announced plans for government-wide reorganization and cost-cutting, while the administration tries to convince lawmakers to approve borrowing from the bond market, in part to pay off approximately $285 million in tax refunds. On Tuesday, however, lawmakers, removed the proposed borrowing for tax refunds from the next fiscal year’s budget bill.

At a meeting yesterday of the Guam Contractors Association, Calvo said paying off the tax refund obligation is a priority to reduce the local government’s $336 million deficit.

The administration’s approach to government reorganization is two-pronged, Gov. Calvo said. There is the planned reduction in workforce, already put in motion by the layoffs of 129 unclassified government workers since the start of the administration, and then there’s the effort to streamline operations by consolidating services as necessary.

General layoff notices were issued by the administration last week, but classified workers protected by the civil service process are afforded a 90-day, individualized notification and bumping rights process before they can be let go.

“The layoffs will be done with as much compassion, … so that we hurt the least amount of people,” the governor said.

Economic growth

Besides reducing the deficit, the governor is hoping to grow the economy. One promising development is the recent award of an $89.7 million contract funded by the Japanese government for the military buildup, he said. Japan is paying for about $6 billion of the more than $10 billion cost to relocate about 8,000 Marines and their families from Okinawa to Guam.

The contract is proof that the buildup is on its way, despite some bumps along the road, Gov. Calvo said.

“The fact of the matter is the Marines are coming to Guam,” he assured the contractors.

The Asia-Pacific region is driving the world economy and Guam is “right in the middle of it,” Gov. Calvo said.

This is important not only in a defense sense, but in a commercial sense. The governor said that passage of a visa-waiver program for Chinese and Russian tourists would spur growth in the local economy.

The administration is “committed to economic growth,” he said.