Acting chief election officer Meleisea V. Filiga has told lawmakers that the Election Office’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2016 — submitted by the Governor’s Office — does not provide enough funding for them to prepare for the November 2016 general election, which includes the gubernatorial race.

However, Sen. Galeai Tu’ufuli pointed out that the FY 2016 budget was submitted by the governor and this is the governor’s annual financial plan for the government.

Meleisea appeared Wednesday before the Fono joint budget committee hearing on the Election Office’s FY 2016. As part of his opening remarks, Meleisea told lawmakers that he entered the Fono chambers with tears in his eyes, due to sadness over the way the Election Office’s budget has been proposed by the Executive Branch.

He says there is no way the proposed budget will cover the office preparations for the 2016 general election, which is a major election, that includes the governor and lieutenant governor’s race.

He pointed out that the FY 2016 budget covers preparations for the election, while FY 2017— when it;s submitted next year — provides funding to carry out the election process. He said the FY 2016 budget totals $615,000 and at least 90% (or $559,000) of the budget goes to personnel costs leaving only 10% (or $56,000) to cover general election preparations and other operational costs.

When taking into account, about $40,000 annually for electric and water expenditures that leaves only $16,000 for the office — all its operational expenses, including preparations for the general election, he said.

And if “10% retention” of the total budget is put in place, as required by the governor of all executive branch entities, there won’t be enough money to pay for personnel and “zero” money for operational costs, Meleisea, a former ASG statistician, stated.

Meleisea believes that the government cannot reduce personnel costs, because it’s a “fixed cost” in the budget, unless the governor issues an order to reduce working hours, then personnel costs can be reduced.

Galeai informed Meleisea that “you are telling the wrong people your concerns” with the proposed budget. He said this is a budget submission by the governor and therefore it is the governor’s final FY 2016 budget seeking Fono approval.

He says the Fono cannot change the governor’s budget submission, adding that only the governor can increase or decrease departments’ budgets. Galeai explained that the Fono in past years have made changes to a governor’s budget submission and the chief executive becomes unhappy and uses the governor’s line-item veto to return the budget as it was submitted.

According to the Manu’a senator, the Fono cannot offer any assistance, and asked if Meleisea’s concerns were relayed to Gov. Lolo Matalasi Moliga and the ASG Office of Budget and Planning prior to the final FY 2016 being sent to the Fono.

Meleisea responded “yes”, adding that the Election Office had prepared and presented its budget proposal to the governor. Additionally, the issue that the prepared Election Office budget will cover election preparations was also relayed to the administration. He said his office had presented a proposed budget of $740,000 to be funded by local revenues.

Of the total FY 2016 budget for the Election Office pending in the Fono, $409,500 is funded by local revenue and $205,500 is funded by grants, while the workforce stands at 19, according to the budget document.

Responding to a committee question on how much is needed to prepare for the election, Meleisea said his office has calculated the per-capital-cost for election preparation, and it’s about $12 per voter. So if the voter roll has 17,000 registered voters, multiply that by $12, the total is the per-capita-cost, which is around $200,000 for election work.

As of early this week, the voter registration roll had 15,000 registered voters, while official registration for the 2016 election begins early next year, he added.

It was noted during the hearing by Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee chairman Sen. Laolagi F.S. Vaeao that $200,000 in local revenue is allocated under the Special Program budget category — overseen by the governor’s office — for the Election Office.

Justification for this allocation, according to the governor’s budget summary letter, states that this money is to assist the Election Office to cover the 2016 election operation and preparation, and the cost of an Election Outreach Program.

These activities include transportation to and from Manu’a, efforts and attempt to register all eligible voters on and off island, any personnel costs and other public awareness activities to promote the individual right to exercise his/her vote, the summary letter states.

During the budget hearing, Sen. Soliai Tuipine Fuimaono, a former chief election officer, told lawmakers that despite such extra funding provided under the Special Program, the Election Office budget is always in the red, including the last two elections due to the lack of sufficient funding.

He said current and previous administrations keep allocating $200,000 under the Special Program, without knowing the actual costs involved in preparing and carrying out an election. As for the number of registered voters, Soliai expects the number to increase by election time, with many new qualified voters who have turned 18 years old since the last election.

Soliai recalled that in previous budget hearings, while holding the post of chief election officer, he warned lawmakers that the Election Office budget was not sufficient and therefore it would be in the red by the end of the fiscal year. And it continues to occur again and again — budget in the red, he said.

(During budget hearings in 2012 prior to the general election that year, Soliai bluntly told the Fono that there is no way the election could be carried out with the amount of money proposed by the administration. A supplemental budget was later provided by the administration and approved by the Fono.)

Sen. Tuaolo Manaia Fruean, who previously served as chief election officer under the Lolo Administration, suggested that Meleisea present all the necessary numbers to the governor, who can then submit a supplementary budget. He noted that the Election Office is not the only executive entity wanting more money.