Some have to wait: City mayor reduces budget request by P174M
These projects will have to wait a little longer for funding: allowances of Cebu city fiscals, a lot purchase for the new Sapangdaku Elementary School, construction of a new Lorega Public Market, and the city’s street lighting program.
Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama reduced by P174 million his Supplemental Budget 2 that is pending with the City Council.
“If we can’t include it in SB 2 we can put those items in the annual budget,” he said in a phone interview.
He said the reduction aims to ensure that enough funds are available to finance his administration’s “priority” projects.
Rama was in Manila yesterday when Jose Daluz III presented the amended SB2 to the council’s budget committee.
The two-page document included a list of 19 items that were scrapped or reduced.
Unappropriated
About three months ago, the executive department presented P501.2 million worth of programs and projects for funding in SB 2.
But Councilor Margot Osmeña who heads the budget committee approved only P243.7 million from identified funding sources.
The council questioned the inclusion of P257.5 million in unappropriated balance from this year’s business tax collections as a fund source for SB2 when fiscal year 2014 is not yet over.
Osmeña said the city may also need the funding to implement this year’s P5 billion annual budget.
“We can defend all the other funding sources except for the unappropriated balance,” Daluz told the council in yesterday’s budget hearing.
Practical side
Daluz admitted that he too is uneasy about using the unappropriated balance from the year’s business collection to fund SB 2, a practice that was started by previous mayors.
To reach a compromise, Daluz presented to the council a list of appropriations included in SB2 which Mayor Rama agreed to delete or reduce.
Asked if the reduction of his proposed SB 2 was an admission of the city’s funding shortage Rama said, “no.”
“We are just looking at the practical side of it. Why put in if it’s not yet needed or the requirements are not easy?”
Rama said other items like the land purchase for the Sapangdaku Elementary School may be funded using the Special Education Fund.
A proposed P210 million outlay for aid to barangays was reduced to P140 million. A sum of P56 million proposed for the city’s garbage disposal program was reduced to P40 million.
Daluz admitted in the budget hearing that the executive department still has to find a fresh source for the P83.3 million to add to the P243.7 million identified funding source and meet SB 2’s total funding requirement of P327.2 million.
“But P80 million is already safe. We can cover it up at the end of the year,” he said.
Daluz said it would not be up to the executive department to identify other fund sources to ensure implementation of items mentioned in SB2.
Osmeña said the budget committee will again meet today to discuss the amended SB2 and see if they could approve it.
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