$1 million in aid headed to chapters
(Special to the Times - Donovan Quintero)
Wide Ruins Chapter volunteer Richard Allison directs a truck loaded with wood into the chapter's barn Wednesday. Volunteers like Allison helped deliver food, water and hay to stranded families.
By Jason Begay
Navajo Times
WINDOW ROCK, Feb. 4, 2010
E-mail this story
Navajo government leaders agreed to allocate $1 million to help with emergencies related to the winter storms that buried parts of the reservation in snow, but a separate attempt to secure even more money failed this week.
President Joe Shirley Jr. signed a bill passed last week by the Navajo Nation Council that would take $1 million from the Personnel Lapse Fund. The money will be divided among all 110 chapters, although emergency response officials say only about two dozen chapters are reporting the need for emergency aid due to the storms.
A second attempt to get money to aid in weather-related emergency services failed in the Budget and Finance Committee on Tuesday. This plan, as proposed by Delegate Young Jeff Tom (Mariano Lake/Smith Lake), would have taken $5 million from an insurance fund established by the tribal enterprises.
Tom proposed splitting the money between the chapters and the Department of Emergency Services.
The Insurance Commission, which in the past has fended off proposals to use insurance money for other purposes, this time endorsed it 4-0. The insurance fund is used to pay claims, lawsuit settlements, and court judgments that potentially can run into the millions.
"You know how bad it is," Tom said as he presented his plan to the B&F committee Tuesday. "Especially for our elders living in the mountains."
Tribal officials had their concerns over both plans.
The five-day storm in late January left snowdrifts in some areas of the reservation as high as 4 feet.
Now, as the snow melts, delegates say conditions can only get worse as mud and flooding makes unpaved roads even more treacherous. There is little debate over the need for emergency funds, but with the tribe cash-strapped in the face of the global recession, officials are cautious.
Several delegates were concerned over the initial $1 million the council approved Jan 26. They thought the money should have gone to the Commission on Emergency Management, the team in charge of providing services to weather-struck residents. Instead, the money was divvied up with no regard to which chapters need the most help.
The council opted to allocate the money using a formula that split $500,000 evenly among the chapters. The remaining half is to be divided to chapters based on population.
The formula relies on outdated figures, according to a memorandum from the Office of Management and Budget director, Dominic Beyal. The bill, as approved by council, used voter registration data from September 2006.
"The budget amounts are based on voter registration data that is over three years old and is likely inaccurate for current use," Beyal stated in the memo, which was directed to Shirley.
He said the council should have used more recent data for distribution purposes. The Navajo Election Administration reported its latest registered voter count on Dec. 17, 2009, showing 105,326 voters. The earlier count, which was used in the bill, showed 100,526 voters.
"The speaker's office employee who did the budget stated they simply used the voter data that was already loaded in their computer," Beyal stated in his memo, which is meant to give Shirley background and context on the spending bills that come before him to sign.
Tom's bill would have allocated an additional $2 million to the chapters, using insurance fund money. It would have also given the Emergency Management team $3 million.
The money would have come from the Navajo Nation Insurance Commission, which controls an account that the various tribal enterprises, including the Navajo Times, Navajo Oil and Gas Enterprise and Navajo Tribal Utilities Authority, pay into to cover potential insurance liability costs.
Tom proposed taking out a $5 million loan from Key Bank to replenish the insurance fund. The tribe would have repaid the loan in October, by adding it as a line item in the fiscal 2011 operating budget.
Although committee members did not argue the need for the funds, they remained concerned about withdrawing money from an employee benefits account, particularly one that does not belong to the tribe, and taking out a loan.
"We are predicting it's going to dry up in three weeks," said Hoskie Kee (Baca-Prewitt/Casamero Lake/Little Water). "We don't need to do this. This is personnel (funds) we are talking about."
Pete Ken Atcitty (Shiprock) questioned giving chapters an additional $2 million following the council's approval of $1 million in aid.
"We already gave them an appropriation a week ago," Atcitty said. "How are they going to use this money? We are talking about a lot of money; I think people want transparency."
Jonathon Nez (Shonto) pointed out that some chapters are much harder hit than others. Piñon, for instance, is hit every year by snow and mud and therefore is constantly drained completely of emergency funds.
"Other chapters carry over thousands of dollars in emergency funds," he said.
According to information from the Division of Community Development, the chapters collectively have more than $3 million in emergency funds at the ready, but individually the amount varies widely.
As of Jan. 25, Piñon had $1,000 in emergency funds. Baca, Iyanbito and Tó Nanees Dizí, had no emergency reserves. Most chapters had well over $10,000 with Low Mountain and Aneth each holding more than $100,000 in ready money.
In the end, the committee voted against Tom's plan, 2-5.
"It's not that my heart doesn't go out to the people who are stranded," said Vice Chairman Leonard Chee (Birdsprings/Leupp/Tolani Lake). "But we are in charge of looking at the legalities of what's available."
(7.75 out of 10)
Same situation, different year. Year in year out, the tribe trying to find monies to distribute...for ehat!? The people that really need help are the ones' that get denied by the very people that said "we can help"...