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Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico Executive Director Robert Mujica said Tuesday that the supervisory entity approved additional funds in this fiscal year’s budget for municipalities, especially those with financial problems.
“The Board also worked with the government to allocate $89 million in additional funds for municipal governments in this year’s budget. In this case, we worked together with the Office of Management and Budget, the Mayors Federation, and the Mayors Association,” Mujica said during the oversight board’s public meeting, the first in which Gov. Jenniffer González Colón participated. “And, to be clear, the government of Puerto Rico supports municipalities with almost $350 million this year.”
“Of those $350 million, $89 million was specifically added to support targeted programs and municipalities with greater needs for additional funds. The Ama de Llaves social welfare program received $15 million in additional funding. The emergency medical services program received $9 million and $30 million was allocated to municipalities with the greatest needs to support essential services,” Mujica added. “The Ama de Llaves program offers services in municipalities such as essential assistance with hygiene, home management, and medication administration for the elderly and disabled. The emergency medical services program assists municipalities that participate in 9-1-1 emergency response services. And, based on applicable criteria and requirements, 38 municipalities qualified for additional funds from the emergency medical response program and 51 municipalities met the requirements to receive additional funds from the Ama de Llaves program. We anticipate allocating the remaining $35 million to municipalities as part of the central government’s efforts to improve collaboration on joint initiatives that impact Puerto Rico’s economy. The Board fully understands the challenges that municipalities face in offering social welfare services to their residents and continues to support Puerto Rico’s mayors and their staff to ensure that they can serve their residents well.”
Mujica also said it was not the oversight board that suggested hiring the consulting firm PJT Partners as part of the negotiation of the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) debt.
“To be clear, because it has been reported that this is the Board’s contract. This is not the Board’s contract,” he said. “The Board in fact specifically said that it is not negotiating that contract. It was negotiated by the mediators. The mediators and the Board as a representative had to present it to the court. The mediators had that negotiation with their advisers. We did not negotiate that contract, and the mediators have the right to [hire] the professionals they consider necessary for the mediation. But they are not our advisers. They are the advisers of the mediators. And it is up to the court, when examining the request, to make the judgment.”
The chairman of the oversight board, Arthur González, noted that at the moment they do not have a position taken on the contract, but they can present opposition, just like the Puerto Rico government can.
“If the governor’s office disagrees with what the mediators have proposed, they can oppose it if that is their position on it,” González said.
