Three more line-item vetoes from President Begaye

WINDOW ROCK

More line-item vetoes from President Russell Begaye hit the budget on Oct. 29.

The president used his line-item veto power on three amendments in the Navajo Nation Fiscal Year 2017 Budget. He vetoed funding for the Election Administration Office, an appropriation for a Department of Water Resources Management study of the Little Colorado River, and a proposal to penalize programs by clipping 10 percent of their non-personnel operating costs as a penalty.

The Election Administration Office took a hit of $296,406 in the veto.

“The $296,406 wasn’t indicated as going toward the referendum vote. It wasn’t written into the resolution and there was no reference to it,” President Begaye said in a press release. “If Council wanted these funds to be appropriated to the referendum, they should have clarified this within their amendment.”

Jared Touchin, a spokesperson for the Office of the Speaker, pointed out that the Supplemental Funding Proposal Summary in fact shows that the Navajo Nation Council did ask for the funding for the Road Stimulus Referendum. OVPV had sent the budget along with the press release. Touchin sent screenshots of the budget to confirm that the council had clarified that point.

The Navajo Nation Council, on Oct. 29, signed into law a supplemental resolution appropriating $510,616 to the Navajo Election Administration.  The Office of the President and Vice President said the request of an additional $296,406 to the NEA would be fiscally irresponsible.

The president also line-item vetoed an amendment appropriating $50,000 to the Department of Water Resources Management for a Little Colorado River alluvial study.

OVPV said a Memorandum of Understanding was modified with the Bureau of Indian Affairs to provide additional funding of $100,000 to be partly used for contractual services for the study.

“Since the grant has been awarded, these funds can be used for other critical needs,” OVPV said in a press release.

Lastly, President Begaye vetoed an amendment to cut 10 percent of a program’s non-personnel operating budget as a penalty of non-compliance regarding Conditions of Appropriation within the 2017 Budget.

In the budget message, the president said enforcement of COAs “should be in a form to discipline the employees not carrying out their duties, but not to harm the Navajo people being served.”

“While we view the COAs as being important in holding divisions and departments accountable in providing services, council is actually penalizing the people and not the personnel,” he said. “The proposed withholding comes from the operating costs of the services that we provide to the people.”

Because COAs are put into place to ensure that employees are fulfilling their responsibilities, President Begaye said the proposed withholdings should be directed toward the respective employee’s salaries.

“This is where the penalty should be applied,” he said. “It shouldn’t be that our people are being penalized for an employee who isn’t carrying out their duties.”

The president also stated that he will continue to work with Division Directors to hold executive branch employees accountable for their work performance.

President Begaye defended the line-item veto authority as authority given to his office by the Navajo people.

“The line-item veto authority was given to the president by the people through referendum. If there is any clarification that needs to done regarding this authority, it’s the Navajo people who should initiate this, not the Council.”

---