The funding source for a bill to send a 100-member Guam delegation to the Festival of Pacific Arts next year was questioned by lawmakers during a public hearing yesterday.
Sen. Kelly Marsh’s Bill 158 seeks $400,000 in unappropriated Tourist Attraction Funds to cover travel costs for the delegation. Marsh told Sen. Joe S. San Agustin’s finance committee that her bill would ensure that Guam sends a strong delegation to FestPac.
However, the fiscal note on Marsh’s bill points out that the Tourist Attraction Fund had a negative fund balance last year. As such, there is no additional revenue to support the bill, states the fiscal note.
Complicating matters, committee organizers were not able to produce a budget.
Sen. San Agustin recommended that the FestPac funding source come from non-appropriated funds.
“Your budget is going to be really the key. Because $400,000, as I mentioned earlier, the focus now is not to draw it from TAF, GVB, but to draw it from non-appropriated. But at the same token I have to be mindful of what’s going on at GMH. So we are going to be looking at all the things that are going on,” San Agustin said.
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