Zero balance doesn't stop council spending
By Jason Begay
Navajo Times
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Call it a case of ignoring the giant zero in the room.
Before the start of the Navajo Nation Council's spring session last week, lawmakers were told there is no money in the Undesignated Unreserved Fund available for supplemental spending.
But that didn't stop the council from spending almost two days of its five-day session debating the half-dozen money requests on the agenda, prompting one delegate to threaten he would go home early.
"We did the same thing all afternoon yesterday," said Lorenzo Curley (Houck/Lupton/Nahata Dziil) during a protracted discussion of the doomed spending bills. "We didn't consider anything serious. If this keeps up, I'm going to have to boycott the rest of the session."
His sentiments were echoed by fellow Budget and Finance Committee member Nelson Begaye (Lukachukai/Tsaile/Wheatfields).
"This is the last day of the session and we still haven't made a dent in the agenda," Begaye said. "How many times do we have to vote these riders down?"
Edward V. Jim Sr. (Greyhills/Sheepsprings/Newcomb) pointed to the large whiteboard on the south side of the council chambers on which the available UUF balance was displayed.
"Look at the board," he said. "It says 'zero.'"
However, the council still spent much of that morning debating whether to spend $2.6 million.
Meanwhile, the council tabled action on several bills that would make substantive changes to the status quo.
One, the Navajo Nation Unauthorized Recording Act, was tabled because the council could not resolve its concern over a proposal to restrict recordings of Navajo ceremonial songs.
The council also tabled a bill that would have established the Division of Diné Veterans Services. Delegates could not resolve a question of who should appoint the division director, the president or the council's Human Services Committee.
A bill to hold a voter referendum on terms limits for delegates and the speaker was dropped when the sponsor failed to appear as it came up for action.
A fourth measure, to strip power from the Navajo Nation Board of Education, was returned to the Education Committee with the directive for the committee and the board to work out their differences.
The delegates spent the bulk of their time debating spending measures they had no money to fund. Of course, the zero on the dry erase board was a relative number, at least in the eyes of some delegates.
"There is no such thing," said Ervin Keeswood (Tsé Daa' Kaan). "Actually, there is $13 million total."
Technically, he's right, there's current $12.7 million in the UUF, about 10 percent of last year's tribal operating budget.
But under tribal law, that money is untouchable as it is earmarked to fund day-to-day operations of the tribal government in case of an emergency.
There was another $500,000 in the UUFB earmarked as the Grant Set Aside Fund, which is meant to provide upfront money for capital improvements that will be reimbursed by state grants.
Delegates can waive the tribal law, releasing the 10 percent reserve, and can elect to spend the set-aside fund as they choose, Keeswood said.
All they have to do is to approve a one-time waiver of the law, which has been done frequently in the past to push through pet spending bills.
"There's nothing that says they can't do it," admitted LoRenzo Bates (Upper Fruitland), chairman of the Budget and Finance Committee. "But nothing says they can, either."
It would depend on how aggressively a delegate campaigns for support, he said.
"It depends on the strategy and maneuvering of my colleagues," Bates said.
In the end, the council did not spend a dollar during the session. But delegates spent a lot of time trying out their strategy.
The first day of each session is usually reserved for oral quarterly reports from the president and agency heads. The council starts discussing specific legislation on the second day and may take the full week or finish early.
On Tuesday the council reviewed six bills, passing one, tabling two others and voting down the rest.
The delegates spent Wednesday discussing whether to authorize a $50 million loan to construct a new home for the legislative branch.
Thursday, they discussed several supplemental appropriation bills, adding several riders that ballooned the original spending requests to fund unrelated purposes.
By the end of the day, it appeared that delegates were adding the same amendments repeatedly.
First was a request for $5.7 million to build a gymnasium at Red Valley/Cove High School.
Delegates added $102,086 for travel expenses for the Office of Legislative Services; $150,000 to the Public Safety Committee for lobbying efforts; and $483,000 for the Narbona Growth Fund. Then it voted down the final, $7.7 million bill.
The next bill was a request for $150,000 for the Public Safety Committee for lobbying efforts, to which was added riders for $5.7 million for the Red Valley/Cove gym; $160,000 for the Black Mesa Chapter; and $2 million to the speaker's office. The final $8.3 million bill failed.
By Friday morning, delegates seemed weary of discussing the same spending requests repeatedly.
But neither that nor Curley's boycott threat stopped Delegate Young Jeff Tom (Smith Lake/Mariano Lake) from trying to add the Public Safety Committee's lobbying compensation, and another $2.4 million to a spending bill.
Leonard Chee (Birdsprings/Leupp/Tolani Lake) said the council had already voted down the requests, some of them several times.
"I know Young Jeff is on a roll right now, but the council has spoken," Chee said.
The council did manage to barrel through 11 bills Friday, leaving only three untouched until the council's next session.
The remaining bills include: seeking to establish the process in selecting a Diné Nation Medal of Honor, approving the Navajo Nation Human Rights Commission plan of operation, and confirming a probationary district court judge.