Saipan: new bill would cut salaries for CCC members

Senator Paul A. Manglona argues that as there is no casino activity on Saipan due to IPI’s licence suspension, CCC employees should no longer receive their full salaries.

Northern Mariana Islands.- Commonwealth Casino Commission (CCC) employees could lose part of their salaries if a bill proposed by Senator Paul A. Manglona is approved. Manglona says CCC salaries have become “an immense financial burden to the commission and the Commonwealth government despite there being no casino on the island following the suspension of Imperial Pacific International’s (IPI) gaming licence.

From an original team of 50, the financially troubled regulator is now down to just 11 employees following Leonard Leon’s resignation as the manager of the commission’s compliance division. Andrew Yeom, the CCC’s executive director, said the remaining 11 employees had submitted contract renewals.

The bill states: “When there is no ‘active casino’ in operation, compensation shall be suspended and the members of the commission shall each be compensated in accordance of 1 CMC Section 8247 which states: ‘The rate of compensation for meetings attended for members of all government corporations, councils, commissions, agencies, including but not limited to autonomous agencies, boards, and elected municipal councils, subject to the availability of funds and authorization of the Legislature, shall be no more than $60 for a full-day meeting and no more than $30 for a half-day or less meeting; provided that the compensation shall not exceed a maximum of $6,000 per year; provided further that compensation for meetings shall be limited to those meetings open and public and for which notice has been published’.”

Yeom told Mariana’s Variety that the CCC was actively working and conducting hearings regarding IPI’s future.