BACOLOD City – The city government sought a 12-percent increase in its annual budget.
The Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) approved on first reading on Wednesday city hall’s P2.52-billion proposed budget for 2019.
The amount was P270 million higher than the 2018 budget, according to Councilor Caesar Distrito, chairman of the SP committee on appropriations and finance.
Half of the proposed budget will be sourced from the Internal Revenue Allotment (P1.26 billion). The other half (P1.258 billion) will be from local sources (business and real property taxes, among others).
The lion’s share went to the city’s maintenance and other operating expenses –P1.33 billion, or 52.92 percent of the total proposed budget.
Personnel services followed with P660 million, or 26.21 percent.
Development fund was allocated P252 million (7.29 percent); equipment expenses, P81.7 million (3.24 percent); financial expenses, P7.9 million (0.32 percent); and other funds, P184 million (10.02 percent).
“The budget includes the provision for the salary standardization of city government employees. Same with the previous budget, it prioritizes health services, solid waste management, social welfare services, public order and safety, antidrug campaign, improvement of traffic management, economic and infrastructure development, tourism, and education,” Distrito said.
Mayor Evelio Leonardia said in a statement the city is “benefiting from a steady rise in the collection of local taxes.”
There were “significant increases” in collected real property and business taxes over the past two years, “owing mainly to the confidence of valued taxpayers,” the mayor said.
Moreover, Leonardia said a “significant portion of the budget is dedicated for infrastructure development.”
The SP committee on appropriations and finance will conduct a series of public hearings in relation to the budget proposal./PN
