Lifetime Citizen Portal Access — AI Briefings, Alerts & Unlimited Follows
Delegation weighs returning expenditure authority after gaming-commission payout documentation problems
Loading...
Summary
At a special session April 25, 2025, the Rotary Legislative Delegation discussed mismatched records for payouts funded by gaming revenue and considered reverting expenditure authority from the finance director back to commissioners and creating a medical-review board to oversee subsistence allowances.
At a special session April 25, 2025, the Rotary Legislative Delegation discussed problems verifying payments tied to gaming-commission appropriations and considered returning expenditure authority to commissioners after the Department of Finance declined to certify some claims.
The issue arose during consideration of a miscellaneous communication summarizing about $155,000 appropriated under “Local Law 23-15,” and a separate $10,000 appropriation tied to back-pay claims. "This is becoming problematic for the individuals that are trying to get back paid," said Senate President Manuela. Manuela said the Department of Finance’s director, Ho Cook, is refusing to certify payments without complete documentation, and that the figures presented to commissioners do not match commissioners’ records.
"I think the course of action that I recommend is that we just revert this back to the commission and just give the authority back to them and hold them liable for ensuring that these funds are properly spent," Senate President Manuela said. Members discussed drafting legislation to remove the delegation's expenditure authority and return it to commissioners.
Chairman Maloney said he agreed with the idea of depoliticizing the subsistence-allowance process and noted a prior bill addressing related matters had been vetoed two terms ago. He suggested the delegation could mirror an existing municipal scholarship board to address concerns about creating an additional oversight body.
Manuela and other members also proposed creating an independent board of medical professionals to review subsistence-allowance requests so decisions would be based on medical documentation rather than political judgment. "I think that'll eliminate the political part of this," Manuela said.
Members noted the source of funds for the programs under discussion: poker fees. Chairman Maloney said the island has lost one gaming establishment and is down to two, increasing pressure to stretch available revenues.
The delegation accepted miscellaneous communication 24-04, which records the items discussed and acknowledgment by members to include the individual(s) on the program; the motion was approved by voice vote.
Representative Julie was asked to reintroduce draft legislation prepared by council staff; members said council would work with her staff to pre-file and clean up the draft before it reaches the delegation.
The discussion in this session covered the documentation gap, possible legislative fixes to expenditure authority, and options for creating an independent medical-review board to decide subsistence-allowance eligibility.
Ending: Members agreed to pursue drafting legislation and to coordinate with counsel on a pre-filed bill; no final statutory change was adopted at the session.
