Mayors’ Council asks Legislature for $20.96 million for FY2026 as senators probe gap with governor’s $9.62 million proposal

The Guam Legislature’s Committee on Finance and Government Operations heard testimony June 25 on Bill 44-38 COR, the governor’s FY2026 executive-branch appropriation bill, during a public budget hearing focused on the Mayor’s Council of Guam. Joy Jean Arceo, executive director of the Mayor’s Council of Guam, told the committee the council is requesting $20,956,877 for fiscal year 2026, “an increase of 3,700,000.0 from last year's appropriation.”

The budget request is intended to cover personnel, operations and capital needs for the council and 19 village mayor’s offices that provide frontline services across the island, Arceo said. “This is not a wish list. It is a focused and necessary investment in the basic services, emergency response, and community support that our mayors are expected to provide every day,” she testified.

Nut graf: Mayors and council staff told senators the mayor’s offices now perform duties that extend beyond their statutory roles — from disaster response and sheltering to road clearing, elderly and youth programs and temporary distribution centers — and that current funding levels leave many villages unable to maintain facilities or respond quickly in emergencies. Witnesses and senators said the mayor’s request differs sharply from a lower executive recommendation: the mayor’s materials show an authorized FY2025 level of $17,230,007, a supplemental appropriated $4,500,000 (Public Law 37-135), and a mayoral request of…