Governor urges Speaker to convene Special Session
April 8, 2008
Governor Felix P. Camacho is allocating $1 million in Compact Impact Assistance funds over the next six years to fund equipment for the four new public schools under the Governor's municipal lease program. He is proposing a financing option to the Legislature to ensure equipment is procured and received for the three schools slated for completion by next school year.
Under the Governor's proposal, the existing school lease company, Guam Education Financing Foundation, will finance the equipment over a six-year period if the Legislature approves a bill the Governor sent yesterday. The bill will allow GEFF to issue a parity bond and will waive procurement rules to ensure the equipment is ordered and received in time for the opening of schools.
"We are excited about the opening of these new schools for Guam's children and we want to make sure they are fully equipped by the opening of the school year," Governor Camacho said.
The Guam Public School System agreed to identify the funding needed to equip the schools when the Governor's project to build the schools began; however, the GPSS FY2008 budget request to fund this was eliminated due to budgetary constraints. The Governor instructed the Guam Economic Development and Commerce Authority to explore financing options available. Financial advisors, however, said there is no market for the government of Guam to finance the full cost of collateral equipment. The issuance of a second bond series with GEFF, however, is available. In order for the government to avail itself of this option, the current legislative authorization has to be amended to allow for this arrangement.
The Governor has called on Speaker Won Pat to convene
Special Session to act on this proposal , in order to ensure that the first schools are ready to receive students at the start of the new school year.
"[T]he time is running critically short to finance and procure the needed equipment for the new schools to open at the beginning of the 2008-2009 school year," Governor Camacho wrote to Speaker Won Pat.
