Towns submitting data for another financial bailout

In announcing a $35 million bailout for cash-strapped island towns, Gov. Jenniffer González Colón said mayors will provide data “to demonstrate the situation, a snapshot of the financial situation of those municipalities,” to be shared with the Financial Oversight and Management Board and on which to base the distribution of funds. (Facebook via Jenniffer González Colón)

By The Star Staff

Gov. Jenniffer González Colón announced earlier this week a new $35 million financial bailout for municipalities.

“In order for us to achieve this financial bailout, we have requested that the municipalities provide an overview of their finances, some of which they have already submitted,” the governor said at the conclusion of a Monday afternoon meeting with 70 of the island’s 78 mayors and agency heads. “We are talking about the entire financial analysis, the cost control measures that some of these municipalities have taken. Measures such as reduced working hours or how they have reduced their payroll, others have cut contracts and taken fiscal measures to demonstrate that they have indeed been responsible and that the debts often reflect onerous expenses for government services.”

“So we have asked all municipalities to submit this data to the Office of Management and Budget by this Friday, because we, in communication with the fiscal board, need to demonstrate the situation, a snapshot of the financial situation of those municipalities, so we can base this distribution on that.”

The governor added that as part of the financial assistance, towns will sign several agreements to carry out traditional central government work such as school and road maintenance.

“For next year, we know we will have other municipalities in this situation,” González Colón said. “We have identified some remaining funds from previous budget balances that were not used and that we want to reallocate, but obviously the [Financial Oversight and Management] Board requires other measures, such as, in this case, the administrative measure we had filed to freeze the inventory tax for five years, which would free up those $66 million for the next fiscal year.”

When asked how many towns would receive the funds, González Colón said the names of qualifying towns will not be released until the requested information is submitted.

Of the 78 municipalities, 21 have not submitted data, 31 submitted incomplete information, and 26 completed their data.