Council finds money for weather emergency, debates who would spend it

The Navajo Nation Council hopes President Joe Shirley Jr. will fast-track an emergency allocation of $1 million for storm relief as another winter storm moved into the reservation Wednesday night.

The council approved the emergency bill Tuesday by a vote of 73-11. Delegates appealed to Shirley to sign the bill immediately and on Wednesday passed a directive that the Office of Management and Budget and the controller's office transfer the funds as soon as possible.

"This is for direct services for the people out there," said Young Jeff Tom (Mariano Lake/Smith Lake). "They all have problems at the chapter level."

However, while the delegates hailed passage of the bill as a triumph for the tribe, there were concerns about where the money is coming from and where it will go.

The delegates had to look hard for money that could be reallocated to emergency relief, because with the budget operating in the red, there is no extra revenue funneling into the Undesignated Unreserved Fund. And if there were money for the UUF, it would go to help correct a deficit in that account of more than $22 million.

So the bill, as approved, identified the source of funds as the Personnel Lapse Fund, where unspent money budgeted for personnel costs, including employee raises, is held.

According to a report by the controller, Mark Grant, the lapse fund has collected more than $1.2 million during the first quarter of the 2010 fiscal year, Oct. 1 through Dec. 31.

"These are funds allocated for the first quarter, but not used for the first quarter," Grant said.

Under the bill approved by the council, the money would be split using the 50-50 formula. Half of the funds will be distributed to the chapters evenly. The remaining half will be distributed to chapters based on population.

Several delegates were concerned that not enough money would make it to the chapters most affected by the storm.

Leonard Tsosie (Pueblo Pintado/Torreon/Whitehorse Lake) offered an amendment that would have increased the amount to $3 million and use money from the public facilities fund. This plan would have given $2.2 million to the Navajo Commission on Emergency Management for operating costs and $800,000 to chapters. However, Tsosie's amendment included a list of chapters rated by how severely they were affected by the weather.

Citing an Emergency Management report, Tsosie said 26 chapters have been hard hit. Those chapters - which do not include any in Tsosie's district - would receive a bulk of the funds, he said.

The council rejected Tsosie's amendment on grounds that it was a major overhaul of the original bill and so should have been presented as a separate bill.

Nelson Begaye (Lukachukai/Tsaile/Wheatfields) offered an amendment that would have given the funds to the speaker's office. From there, chapters could have requested funds.

Most chapters have a significant balance in their emergency management accounts, he noted. In total, the emergency management accounts for all 88 council districts hold more than $3 million. Some chapters have more than $100,000 in their account.

Wheatfields Chapter declared an emergency on its own early in the series of storms that hit last week, Begaye said. The snow there is too deep for road graders, so the chapter wants to rent a bulldozer, which would cost $8,000 for a month. This would nearly wipe out the $10,000 the chapter would get under the 50-50 formula, not including training and wages for the operator, Begaye said.

"Maybe there is a better way to distribute funds," Begaye said.

The council voted down his amendment, however, in favor of allowing chapters to choose how to spend the money allocated to them.

Most chapters are facing some type of hardship and have better insight as to how the funds can serve their region than would the central government, delegates said.

"This legislation will allow chapters to address their own emergency assistance," said Larry Noble (Jeddito/Low Mountain/Steamboat). "Some chapters out there have depleted their emergency fundings."

Raymond Maxx (Coalmine Canyon/Tóh Nanees Dizí) noted an irony behind the council's actions, considering that it spent the previous day pleading with Shirley about the dire need for emergency services.

"But when it comes to funding, they take the money and just give it to somebody else," Maxx said. "Now (emergency management) is expected to carry out everything, but they didn't get any funding. It's kind of business as usual."

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