The P13.4 billion budget approved by the Cebu City Council in a special session last week is larger than the P5 billion-plus budget it approved for the Rama administration this year.
It fell short of the P18.9 billion the mayor sought for next year but it is more than half of what he gets from the usually fiscal conservative City Council which is now more balanced in terms of political alignments.
The mayor’s first three-year term met stiff resistance from the council, majority of whom are allies of the Bando Osmeña-Pundok Kauswagan (BO-PK) which stuck to the “skin and bones” recipe of its founder, former mayor and congressman Tomas Osmeña.
With Rama having leverage now to sell lots of the South Road Properties (SRP), the City Council considers it quite feasible for the city government to raise revenues for whatever projects it wants in 2015.
More than half of the 2015 budget relies on sales proceeds for three SRP lots.
The bidding rules for the reclaimed will have to be well crafted to draw the best terms for joint ventures or outright sales.
One of the noticeable budget cuts is the removal of the outlay for school buildings. The executive was told this cost could be charged to the city’s Special Education Fund from real estate taxes. Also left out was a budget for job order employees, a common source of patronage politics.
In the case of the Rama administration, a large number of job order employees are placed in all sorts of programs, but not clearly accountable to the office heads. Serious pruning is needed there.
The special condition placed in the budget to restrict spending for capital outlay to the actual revenue raised from SRP lot sales, has irked Mayor Rama, who threatened to go to court to remove this monkey on his back.
But recall that the Rama administration failed to meet its revenue target this year by a whopping P1.3 billion, causing various cash flow difficulties, despite repeated assurances from the City Treasurer’s Office that everything would balance out at yearend.
You can’t spend, what you haven’t earned, right?
Starting next year, Cebu City residents would do well to monitor how the Rama administration conducts the sale of lots in the SRP, the city’s most valuable property, and how it would use the proceeds to guide urban development for future generations.
Right now, the mayor’s handling of the city’s finances doesn’t bode too well for the complex task ahead of selling the SRP.
In fact, the recent failure of bidding for the first phase of the Cebu City Medical Center project for P300 million is another reason for city residents to keep a close watch.
At the very least, Rama is given the chance to prove that he can raise the funds to meet his own budget.
Since 2015 sows the seeds for election season, he better make the most of it.
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