BACOLOD City – The Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) committee on finance and appropriations will conduct a four-day hearing starting today on the proposed 2023 budget of P3.250 billion for this city.
Councilor Thaddeus Sayson, chair of the committee, said the hearing will be held at the SP Session Hall from 2:30 p.m. to 5 p.m.
The first day of the hearing will be attended by the finance cluster, composed of the city treasurer, accountant and budget officer.
In the succeeding days, different department and office heads will attend, too.
The committee hopes to complete the budget hearing by the end of November and have it approved by the city council on third and final reading by the second week of December.
Sayson explained that the budget proposal is the same amount as this year’s budget due to the expected reduction of the national tax allocation (NTA) – formerly known as internal revenue allotment – share of all local government units from the national government.
The reduction would be P300 million for the city, Sayson stressed.
“To offset the reduction, (Mayor Albee) Benitez issued an executive order to strengthen the collection efficiency of concerned city offices, like the city treasurer’s, assessor’s, the land tax division, and the Office of the Building Official,” the councilor said.
Of the proposed 2023 annual budget, 57.21 percent or P1.85 billion will be sourced from the NTA share, while 42.79 percent or P1.39 billion will be from local revenues./PN
