A huge leap in salaries for the top officials in the Northern Marianas has become law but funds for the increase are still to be found.
Saipan in the Northern Marianas. Photo: Supplied
The CNMI's four municipal mayors are now entitled to $US100,000 which is more than double their present salary and the governor's pay goes up to $120,000 from $70,000.
House and Senate members will also see a near doubling of their wages to $70,000.
The bill passed into law without the governor's signature or veto as the constitutional twenty calendar days had passed.
The House Speaker Rafael Demapan, who authored the bill, said raising the salaries of public servants to federal standards was an incentive, especially among rank-and-file government workers.
Salaries for top officials were last adjusted 25 years ago.
The House Ways and Means chairman Angel Demapan told the Saipan Tribune while the law has been enacted, the actual increase is on hold until a source of funding is identified.