Layoffs nearing for tribe
$9.7 million raid on lapse fund leaves other funds drained

Copyright © 2009
Gallup Independent
By Kathy Helms
Diné Bureau

WINDOW ROCK — The Navajo Nation is looking at layoffs in more than six programs as early as next week as a result of Council’s passage of emergency legislation to appropriate $9.7 million from personnel lapse funds. Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley Jr. vetoed the bill but Council overrode the veto during the summer session.

During discussion Tuesday before the Budget and Finance Committee, it was revealed that the Nation is expecting a projected $14.1 million shortfall for fiscal year 2009 and a $15.4 million shortfall for FY2010. But the shortfall took a back seat when Chief Justice Herb Yazzie broached the subject of a document that had come to his attention the other day.

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