Council mulls cutting P10.8-B budget by half

The Cebu City Council may cut by half the P11.8-billion proposed budget for next year after it found out that the city has no enough source of funds for it.

Vice Mayor Joy Augustus Young said the council has so far identified P2.5 billion to fund next year’s budget, including the P870.8-milion Internal Revenue Allotment share, which is less by at least P200 million from this year’s IRA share of P1.1 billion.

The reduction is brought about by the creation of new cities.

Another source of fund would be the local tax revenues of about P1.6 billion.

Young said they may approve a P5-billion budget for next year, which is half a billion higher than this year’s appropriation of P4.5 billion.

The council has completed its budget hearings last Monday and started with the budget deliberation yesterday.

They will continue the deliberation tomorrow to identify more sources of funds.

“We are still trying to decide if we will include in the fund sources the about P300 million that we will get from Filinvest,” he said.

Young said, after determining how much funds the city was capable of raising next year, the council would then prioritize appropriation for its personnel services (PS) and maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE).

The balance would be spent on other expenses, which may include projects and other purchases.

Young said if more funds are raised, the city could come up with supplemental appropriations to fund other important projects and purchases.

“Their bloated appropriations and several insertions are causing delay,” he said.

Young cited as example the proposed appropriation for the Department of Public Services.

DPS is asking for P254.5 million next year for their PS and MOOE, which is almost double this year’s appropriation of P156.6 million.

This still does not include insertions for motor vehicle purchase, which they placed under the account of other offices, said Young.

Another example is the proposed P27-million budget for the Cebu City Sports Commission.

However, after consolidating all appropriations for the office placed in other accounts, their actual budget totaled to P82 million.

Young said he suspects that Mayor Michael Rama proposed an P11.8-billion budget for next year so he can brag about having a big budget for the city.

He said Rama may also want to increase his discretionary and intelligence funds, which is computed based on a certain percentage of the budget.

“He (Rama) had a higher ambition.  He isn’t scheming because he has a weak mind.  It’s more of the grandeur of having a huge budget,” said Young.