Collections of the cash-strapped CNMI government are slightly up in January compared to previous months.
However, collections were still not enough for the Fitial administration to avert yet another delay in the release of government payroll today.
The Saipan Tribune reports Lieutenant Governor Eloy S. Inos as saying cash collections improved in January partly because the Jan. 31 deadline for the latest quarterly business gross revenue tax payments is drawing near.
However, except for critical and federally-funded personnel like doctors, nurses, firefighters, police officers, and corrections officers, most civil servants in the CNMI will not again be paid on time.
Government payroll in the CNMI has been delayed at least nine times since June 2010 because of severe cash shortage.