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Guam - The Governor's Office today [Wednesday] submitted to the Legislature the final report from the "Spending Cuts Task Force" and according to a release from Adelup, layoffs of GovGuam employees maybe averted.

The Task Force was formed to guide the Administration and the Legislature on the spending cuts that will be necessary to make up for a projected $43 million dollar budget shortfall. Initially, layoffs were threatened.

READ the Task Force's proposed Spending Cuts, which have been approved by the Governor HERE

But the Governor's fiscal team now believes that the shortfall can be covered by an early retirement program, a reduction in Holiday pay, the elimination of "non-productive pay" from the Guam Fire Department and the elimination of  GFD's incentive pay, among other recommendations.

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The Task Force submitted its recommendations to the Governor on July 16th and those recommendations have been under review. The release states that not all of the recommendations were accepted.

Among the Task Force recommendations rejected by the Governor was the elimination of hazerdous pay and night differentail pay.

READ the release from the Governor's Office in FULL below:

Early Retirement & Benefits Cuts Proposed; Calvo clears spending cuts recommendations for submission to legislature
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 25, 2012

Governor Calvo has completed his review of proposals by the Spending Cuts Task Force to cut $43 million annually. These are the cuts he has cleared, which may avert the need for layoffs, should these programs yield optimal structural cuts:

1.     An early retirement program
2.     Extension of the amortization period to pay down the Unfunded Liability
3.     Reduction of holiday pay to industry standard
4.     Elimination of GFD non-productive pay and reduction of GFD overtime to six hours (3-platoon system)
5.     Elimination of GFD incentive pay
6.     Elimination of annual leave cash out
7.     Reduction of paternity leave to industry standard
8.     Cap on leave sharing to 480 hours per occasion, limited to medical reasons

Budget director John Rios is presenting these proposals to the legislature today. The Governor’s Office and the Department of Administration are collaborating to design the Omnibus Fiscal Reform Package of 2012, a bill containing all legislative authority to make these cuts and implement this program.

The Spending Cuts Task Force submitted its recommendations to the Governor on July 16. Part of the report explained the need for the cuts and how part of the $43 million in savings should be reinvested to implement the Hay Study pay raises as soon as it becomes clear that $43 million in annual savings will be achieved. That all depends on how many people opt to retire early.

The Governor did not approve all the recommendations.

This is the list of cuts the Governor did not approve for proposal to the legislature:

-       Elimination of hazardous pay (however, the Governor said such compensation should be built into the base pay of these officers, then this  provision of the law should be eliminated)
-       Elimination of night differential pay (same as above – build into base pay, then eliminate this provision of law)
-       Elimination of nurses’ weekend and certification differential pay
-       Elimination of DRT 10 percent premium pay

The Spending Cuts Task Force reminds the budget committee of the legislature that the amount to be saved should be for deficit reduction (payment of tax refunds and vendors), and should not be subject to appropriation. This cash savings should not be considered part of the revenue stream.

The process improvement activity to realign the government is ongoing. The team is preparing recommendations based on analyses that have been done.