Diné budget dishes up $32 million
for programs

Copyright © 2008
Gallup Independent
By Kathy Helms
Diné Bureau

WINDOW ROCK — The Budget and Finance Committee decided to work “outside the box” this year to come up with a fiscal year 2009 budget that will go a long way toward meeting the unmet needs of Navajo Nation divisions, programs and other entities.

“Every year for decades, the annual budget has been done the same and the unmet needs have been not always considered at the level that they need to be,” Committee Chairman LoRenzo Bates said.

“There is a section in the Appropriation Act, Section L, that says that the revenue projection, on the recommendation of the controller with the authority resting with Budget & Finance Committee with final approval of the Council, can be increased. So that's what we did.”

The unmet needs were noted by the committee during testimony received in two weeks of budget hearings.

However, because the General Fund recommended amount of $172 million already had been set, “we couldn't change that,” Bates said.

Instead, they looked at the revenue projection, saw that it already had been met for the current fiscal year, and determined that $44 million more in revenue is expected to come to the Nation through the end of the FY 2008.

“So, we said, let's do this: Total up the unmet needs — obviously we couldn't do them all — and we sorted through them with the main consideration, the chapters. We decided that we would recommend $22 million to be appropriated to the chapters — $200,000 per chapter — as the priority.

“We went through all the other branches and we appropriated so much here, so much there. The total was $32 million and some change. So that comes off the $44 million, which leaves $12 million to Council,” for the Unreserved, Undesignated Fund Balance, Bates said.

The three branch chiefs agreed to the proposal last week. It will be presented to the Navajo Nation Council on Sept. 2. Because the Nation is nearing the end of the fiscal year, a major portion of the FY08 money for unmet needs will get carried over to FY2009, however, it will not increase the ’09 general fund budget of $172 million budget.

Recurring costs were kept to a minimum, Bates said, because they would affect the 2010 budget. The $200,000 per chapter is not recurring.

The FY2009 operating budget is recommended at $584,097,816: General Fund revenue, $172,948,000; indirect cost credit, $10 million; proprietary funds, $53,713,541; fiduciary funds, $23,299,536; special revenue internal funds, $29,345,728; special revenue external funds, $292,251,841; and personnel lapse savings account funds, $2,539,170.
The operating budgets for the three branches of government include: Legislative Branch , $17,356,855; Judicial Branch, $18,161,473; and Executive Branch, $513,482,703.

There are also conditions of appropriations attached to the FY09 budget which would impact all divisions, departments, offices and programs with unresolved audit findings.

If the findings are not resolved by the end of the second quarter of FY2009, the program managers will not be permitted to participate in business travel outside the Navajo Nation, and will not be compensated for travel until the findings are resolved.

This would impact various business units within the Department of Diné Education, the divisions of Health, Human Resources, Community Development, Natural Resources, Public Safety, and Economic Development.

All tribal divisions, departments, offices and programs are asked to consider the high costs of energy and fuel in their operations and make necessary revisions to maximize delivery of direct services. They also are encouraged to take full advantage of training provided by the Navajo Nation Training Center.