City Hall heads told to show up Tuesday, defend budgets

Will another walkout mar the next budget hearing scheduled by the Cebu City Council on Tuesday after the disruption in  Friday’s session?

It depends on who the council presses to talk.

Mayor Michael Rama told department heads that they will show up only to explain the appropriations proposed for their  offices.

He  insisted that only Asst. City Treasurer Emma Villarete would  be allowed to speak about revenue generation.

If the council requires City Treasurer Tessie Camarillo to speak, the mayor  said department heads will again retreat.

Council members  met at the home of Cebu City Rep. Tomas Osmeña  after last Friday’s budget hearing to discuss their strategy.

Osmeña’s wife Councilor Margot Osmeña heads  the budget committee.

Councilor Jose Daluz III  said they may call Camarillo anew or other Local Finance Committee (LFC) members to explain the city’s revenue sources.

He said some items may have to be sacrificed from the proposed P11.8-billion budget to make it “more realistic” and achievable.

But Daluz said it was too early to say which items and how much would be cut from the proposed appropriations.

“Maybe we can help the Local Finance Committee to look at the budget in a more realistic way.  Personally I think that if the council slashes some items of the budget, this will be done on the less important items,” he told Cebu Daily News.

Daluz said any additional revenues earned next year may be spent on supplemental appropriations.

City Treasurer  Camarillo told the council last Friday that their 2012 revenues estimates “are based on facts.”

But the council voiced doubts about  revenue projections, saying they were bloated and should be scaled down to conservative estimates.

About 20 department heads walked out of the budget hearing on Mayor Rama’s instructions.

The walkout ensued after Rama fumed over the council’s refusal to acknowledge Villarete as the point person for presenting the revenue sources of the 2012 budget.

The council insisted that Camarillo make the presentation since she was one of the signatories of the draft budget and is an LFC member.

Rama later said he didn’t authorize Camarillo to speak on the budget after she was summoned to the hearing by the council.

Daluz told Cebu Daily News that Ofelia Oliva, the  former city treasurer and now Rama’s adviser, told  him in a recent meeting that the executive department wanted to introduce minor amendments to the draft 2012 budget.

While Oliva didn’t elaborate, Daluz said she assured him that the executive has “ways of supporting the (proposed) budget.”

“But so far they didn’t submit any amendments to the budget,” Daluz said.

Daluz said if the executive and the legislative departments would agree, some insertions or changes may be introduced in the proposed budget.

“We don’t really need strict rules in budgeting.  Even in Congress, they  allow budget insertions,”  said Daluz.

Amendments could include statutory and contractual obligations of the city which the executive may have forgotten to include in the draft annual budget.

Statutory obligations include salaries for regular employees while contractual obligations refer to services or supplies already delivered with no appropriation for payment that was included in the annual budget, said Daluz.

In her appearance last Friday, Camarillo discussed possible local revenue sources which include real property taxes, local taxes, regulatory fees, business and service income.

The council still had to discuss other revenue sources like the city’s Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) share, sale of government assets, borrowings and proceeds from economic enterprises.