Fiscal board releases 2.5% budget allocation to gov’t
By The Star Staff
The Financial Oversight and Management Board allowed the government to use a 2.5% budget allocation withholding for fiscal year (FY) 2022.
In a letter, the oversight board said that as indicated in Section 3 of the Certified Budget Resolution for the General Fund for FY 2022, “such withheld percentage of each appropriation shall only be encumbered and disbursed during the fourth quarter of FY 2022 if the first eight months of actual General Fund revenues reported to the Oversight Board reach the revenue forecast in the 2021 Fiscal Plan for that period and (2) the encumbrance and disbursement is approved first by the Oversight Board.”
On March 31, 2022, the Treasury Department issued a certification stating that the actual revenues collected as of February 2022 exceeded the projected amount for the same period by $428.8 million.
“As the Government has complied with the requirements set forth in Section 3 of the Certified Budget Resolution for the General Fund for Fiscal Year 2022, pursuant to its authority, the Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico approves the release of the 2.5% budget allocation withholding for Fiscal Year 2022,” the entity said.
The oversight board, however, told the Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority (PRASA) to submit the monthly Budget-to-Actual and Implementation results for February 2022 as required under the 2021 Certified Fiscal
Plan for PRASA.
“Specifically, the Oversight Board wants to highlight instances of noncompliance with the reporting of critical key performance indicators (KPIs), which were discussed with and previously agreed to with PRASA during the Fiscal Plan process, with respect to the physical water loss reduction measure,” the board said.
The KPIs are a crucial piece of information for the oversight board and its staff to monitor PRASA’s progress addressing historical challenges related to significant levels of non-revenue water in its system, the board said.
“As such, the Fiscal Plan requires PRASA to report about 24 KPIs covering the overall and main areas of the physical water loss program including master meters, pressure management, and leak detection,” the oversight board said.