Budget talks for GovGuam’s next fiscal year kicked off Friday with the Office of Finance and Budget presenting its projections to lawmakers for fiscal 2022.
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Joe Taitano II
Two senators have expressed concerns about delays in the procurement of a financial management system for the government.
Last week, Vice Speaker Tina Muña Barnes submitted a letter to Department of Administration Director Edward Birn, requesting that his agency provide her with any and all records pertaining to the procurement of a new financial management system replacement for GovGuam.
The vice speaker s letter indicates that she became aware of the procurement through the audits of the Guam Highway Fund and Tourist Attraction Fund, which were conducted by the Office of Public Accountability. One section of the audit indicated that Fiscal Year 2020’s books were not closed on a timely basis, due to the current financial management system which “was not updated to include financial year closing as a standard feature.”
Audit: Shutdown cut hotel tax revenue by $18.3M
By Steve Limtiaco
Hotel Occupancy Tax revenues decreased by $18.3 million last fiscal year after the pandemic shutdown of tourism, according to an audit report released this week by the Office of Public Accountability. The Guam Visitors Bureau cut spending by $8.2 million, which wasn’t enough to offset the “massive decline in revenues,” the report states.
The Tourist Attraction Fund, which gets its money from the occupancy tax, ended fiscal 2020 with $20.8 million in the bank, in its capital projects and debt service funds. That was $1.3 million less than fiscal 2019, the report states.
Tourism shut down last March, six months into fiscal 2020, after Gov. Lou Leon declared a public health emergency and used her authority implement a travel quarantine.