Welcome to the Office of the Governor of Guam

February 3, 2010
 
Governor Felix P. Camacho will break ground on the Northern Sports Complex Recreation Pool and Fitness Trail tomorrow, Feb. 4, 2010 at 10am, at the Northern Sports complex in Dededo. Construction will begin in conjunction with the ongoing construction of four baseball fields.
 
“Building a new pool facility, a fitness trail, along with four baseball parks, will compliment the existing gymnasium and soccer fields in the area. This will be Guam’s first centralized sports complex where all sports can be played. It is an investment in our youth, an investment in a healthier community, and in line with my Lt. Governor’s Healthy Guam Initiative,” Governor Camacho said. “I’d like to commend the dedicated employees at the Department of Parks and Recreation and GHURA, for their hard work in bringing this positive project to life.”
 
The $5 million project was made possible via multiple grants applied for by the Department of Parks and Recreation through the National Park Service Land Water Conservation Fund, the GHURA Community Develop Block Grant, and the Department of Interior’s Compact Impact Grant.
 
“Once completed at the end of the year, a community sports complex  featuring the swimming pool, fitness trail, baseball fields, soccer fields, and gymnasium facilities will bring to fruition a dream that was discussed in 1970’s,” DPR Director Joe Duenas said.

"Final budget submission further addresses Deficit Elimination and provides partial funding 
for long-delayed government wide pay adjustments."


February 1, 2010

The Governor Felix P. Camacho sent the proposed 2011 Budget of the Government of Guam to the Guam Legislature, noting it prioritized the critical areas of education, health, and public safety. The new budget also addresses deficit reduction and provides for a partial funding of the long overdue pay increases for Government of Guam employees as recommended by the Hay Study.  “While the proposed level falls far short of what may be needed for full implementation, it is a start, and I further propose and included a provision that provides that revenues collected beyond that adopted for FY 2011 is dedicated for the same purpose,” wrote Governor Camacho.

The proposed Fiscal Year 2011 budget projects revenues of $600,811,600, an 8% increase from the levels adopted in FY 2010. The projections are conservative as it assumes visitor arrivals will remain flat in spite of recent improvements and it takes into account only those Department of Defense projects that will proceed even if there are further delays on the record of decision.

“The projection assumes visitor arrivals will remain flat, although recent months have shown improvements,” wrote Governor Camacho in his FY2011 Budget Transmittal letter. “Furthermore, it was derived with a more cautious view of the military buildup projects and timelines.”

The breakdown of the FY2011 Executive Budget is $246 million, or 34% for Education; $101.6 million, or 14% for Health, and $107.9 or 15% slated for Public Safety. The remainder of the proposed budget goes to other agencies and for other purposes, including 9% for Debt Service, 2% towards Deficit Reduction, and a 2% Government-Wide Pay Study Implementation.

Governor Camacho is optimistic that Guam’s financial situation will continue to improve in the coming years as capital improvements projects related to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 as well as appropriations from the 2010 Defense Authorization Act continue to generate increased revenues and new jobs.

January 29, 2010

In September 2009, the Department of Administration (DOA) held a briefing for the media on the status of the Job Evaluation and Compensation project being conducted jointly with the Hay Group. During the briefing, an overview was given of the project background, objectives, and steps that had already been completed.  In addition, indication was given that it was the aim of the project to have preliminary analysis and recommendations completed by December 2009.

Accordingly, the Hay Group presented a draft report to the DOA project team. The draft report included the results of the job evaluation process, analysis of GovGuam’s current Unified and Executive Pay Plans, and analysis of the external competitiveness of these pay plans and benefits plans. 

As this was a draft report containing additional steps that need to be undertaken by the Hay Group and the DOA project teams, release of any documents pertaining to the draft report can not yet be released. However, we can advise that the analysis of the current Unified Pay Structure as compared to the comparator markets indicates it to be lagging significantly.  The comparator market includes U.S mainland pay levels and pay levels of other employers on Guam.  The market position is not unexpected given that the Unified pay structure has not been increased since 1991.  

The additional steps, analysis and firming up of recommendations as set out in the draft report are currently being worked on by the Hay Group and DOA project teams.

 “We expect the next project report to be ready by the end of February and that the Hay Group Project director will be on island to present and discuss the report with the DOA project teams (at this time, the draft report will still not be released).  These discussions will also include consideration of the fiscal impact of the recommendations, and the path towards approval by the Governor, and adoption and implementation by the Legislature of the recommendations,” said Lourdes M. Perez, Director of the Department of Administration.