2011 Inaugural Address By The Honorable Sebastian L. Anefal ...

uilding, a model of self-reliance and a reputable model that is trust worthy – allto ensure a brighter future for our children.At the beginning of the New Millennium in the FSM, it was evident that we couldno longer continue to spend more than what we brought in. From 1995 to 2000,the FSM perhaps had the luxury of a number of Compact and non-Compactrevenue resources that allowed some of us to increase local expenditures foroperations by up to 20% in some places. In order to ensure that governmentservices in the State of Yap would continue to be responsive to the requirementsof our people, it was imperative in FY 2008 when we first took office to emphasize“business unusual” by living within our means. A wise man had said once thatthere is no way for Yap to spend ten pieces of stone money when what you see inthe stone money bank is one small piece that does not generate interest earnings.There is no better time to start believing and practicing the realities behind thisstatement than right now.Faced with this stark economic reality from day one, it was a monumentalchallenge to “Preserve the Best; and Improve the Rest”, as my good friend,President Tommy Ramengesau, Jr. of Palau, always says. This was because therewas not much to preserve, but everything else needed major improvement. Weunderstood that we needed to put into place strong economic and fiscalmeasures and policies that would allow us to weather our economic storm, andthereby sail into the rest of this millennium with a renewed hope for our state’sfuture.5