State workers to take less pay to save country

SAIPAN, December 29, 2008 (AFP) - The Northern Mariana Islands, faced with an escalating economic crisis, needs a four-day working week to cut costs, Governor Benigno Fitial said Monday. Fitial, who rejected a proposed budget bill that contained pay increases for department heads, said cost-cutting measures were "critical."

The department of finance said the Northern Marianas government, a US-administered Pacific island territory, has only 148 million dollars to spend in the 2009 fiscal year, down 8.6 million dollars on the current budget.
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Fitial said the funds could be spread further by the introduction of unpaid holidays, reduced remittances to the national retirement fund and "austerity Fridays", with public servants working a Monday-to-Thursday week.

"These cost-cutting measures are critical to meet our constitutional requirement of a balanced budget and to continue delivering services to the people of the commonwealth," he said in his veto message to the legislature.

The Northern Marianas enacted a shortened working week during the 2007 fiscal year, when public offices were closed every other Friday.
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The island territory, with a population of around 80,000,