Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rossell- said he would be handing in a 10-year fiscal plan that avoids cuts to essential government services.
He made the comment in his annual state of the commonwealth speech to the Puerto Rico House and Senate Tuesday.
Rossell- said his plan would avoid laying off any government employees, despite the Puerto Rico Oversight Board's proposed 30% cut in government employment. It would protect medical coverage and avoid affecting pensions of the "most vulnerable."
Rossell- faced a midnight deadline to submit his plan to the federal oversight board created last year to make fiscal decisions as Puerto Rico struggles with its debt crisis. The board, which has the power to impose its own plan if the local government can't come up with an acceptable alternative, has ordered a structurally balanced budget by fiscal 2019.
In his speech, Rossell- said he would be proposing a measure to increase the minimum wage of public and private sector workers. He said he would include tax reform to simplify the system, revise property levies, and attack tax evasion.
The governor said that he had created a plan that doesn't include receiving new allotments of healthcare aid because the Board demanded it be this way. This will make the government leave out $850 million next year and $1.5 billion the following that it would otherwise assume. If the government received these sums, it would have more money for the University of Puerto Rico, pensioners, and for bondholders, he said.
Rossell- said that by taking different measures he was able to project economic growth whereas the Board was projecting contraction. Because of these measures he said he was able to include an extra $1.5 billion in revenues in his plan.
The governor plans to release his 10 year fiscal plan, demanded by the board, on Wednesday.
