Cebu council slashes mayor’s proposed 2024 budget by 78%

PRUDENCE Cebu City councilors cite the low revenue generated by the local government in the last three quarters in their decision to drastically reduce the P100-billion budget proposed by Mayor Michael Rama. Given this situation, they say, it will be prudent to halt big-ticket projects lined up by the city. —CEBU CITY GOVERNMENT

CEBU CITY — In an unprecedented move, the Cebu City Council has decided to severely cut the budget request for 2024 of Mayor Michael Rama, approving only P22 billion of the P100-billion funding proposal that would have propelled the administration’s goal to develop a “Singapore-like” metropolis.

The approved budget marked a cut of about 78 percent from Rama’s proposed annual appropriation measure and a 50 percent decrease from the P50 billion approved in 2023.

All 18 councilors, most of whom are allies of Rama, voted to reduce the budget requested by the mayor during their session on Dec. 20, two days after Rama returned to the city from a family vacation in Australia.

Councilor Noel Wenceslao, budget and finance committee chair, explained on Sunday that the revenue, including taxes, generated by the city in 2023 was not enough to fund Rama’s requests.

The councilors also questioned the need to double the 2023 budget when the city government was able to raise only around P8 billion in revenues as of October this year. They even asked each city department to slash their own budget proposals and prioritize only the important programs and expenditures.

The biggest cut was made on the P50-billion budget for the Comprehensive Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation Projects, involving big-ticket works meant to resolve the constant severe flooding in the city that had affected its image as a viable and livable metropolis outside of Metro Manila, by cutting it down to P600 million.

Another major cut was made on the capital outlay proposal of P77 billion, which was brought down to P11.1 billion.

The city council also reduced the proposed maintenance and other operating expenditures from P18.3 billion to P5.4 billion.

However, the council left untouched the proposed budgets for personnel services and social service subsidy, at P2.5 billion and P900.6 million, respectively. Also left without changes were the allocations of P19.99 billion for the general fund proper and P2.09 billion for special accounts.

‘Premature’

Rama declined to issue any statement, saying it would be “premature” to do so since he still has to see the transcript of records regarding the deliberation of the council on the proposed budget.“I am reserving my comment on the matter until I talk with the local finance committee. And I will do the scrutiny on the deliberation of the Sangguniang [Panlungsod] and I will make a clear position on the matter,” the mayor said.

According to Wenceslao, the mayor has the prerogative to ask for the transcript of records since it is a public document.

But Wenceslao stressed that the budget proposal was seriously and thoroughly deliberated on by the members of the council.

The executive department earlier said the P100-billion budget was necessary to support Rama’s vision of a Singapore-like Cebu City through various projects and development programs.

The council, however, said that given the low local revenue generation in the city over the last three quarters, it would be prudent not to engage yet in big projects. —NESTLE SEMILLA INQ

READ: Cebu City’s 2024 budget slashed from P100 Billion to P20 Billion