Committee pushes staggered implementation of adjusted fair market value of properties in Cebu City

By: Wenilyn B. Sabalo - 2 years ago

File photo from the Cebu City Council’s inaugural session held on July 6, 2022. | Photo from Cebu City PIO

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Cebu City Councilors are in agreement on the need to already push for the adjustment of the fair market value of properties here, which is also the basis for the computation of real property taxes.

However, members of the Council’s Budget and Finance Committee want the implementation of the adjusted rates to be made staggered in the next three years.

This means that only 50 percent of the adjust rates, ones approved, will be implemented starting July 1, 2023. The full implementation of the new rates will be made starting January 1, 2026 yet.

“There is also a need to adjust the market values in some areas to be consistent with the areas of the same economic development and reduce the market values [in areas] where the government encourages economic growth,” the committee said in a seven-page committee report which they presented to the City Council during their regular session last Dec. 21.

The committee report was signed by Majority Floor Leader and Councilor Jocelyn Pesquera, who is the committee vice chairperson, and Councilors James Anthony Cuenco and Philip Zafra and Vice Mayor Raymond Alvin Garcia as members.

Councilor Noel Wenceslao, the committee chairperson, inhibited from signing the committee report since he is also the proponent of the draft ordinance that seeks to revise the city’s Omnibus Revenue Code to increase the fair market value of properties from its current rate.

Screenshot from the Committee on Budget and Finance’s report

Other Council members concurred with the recommendations made by the Budget and Finance Committee as they also moved for the approval of the committee report during their Dec. 21 session.

Following the approval of the report, the committee as a whole then moved to return the draft ordinance to its proponent, Councilor Wenceslao, for the adoption of their recommendations.

But their Dec. 21 committee report was just the first of the series of reports that the Budget and Finance Committee is expected to submit to the City Council after they complete their review of proposed amendments to the Omnibus Revenue Code.

Screenshot from the Committee on Budget and Finance’s report

Committee members are yet to finish their review of the voluminous documents that are attached to Wenceslao’s draft ordinance.

Aside from seeking the adjustment of the fair market value of properties, the draft ordinance also seeks to revise the city’s real property taxes and prescribe new rates for business taxes, permits, fees, and other charges for services rendered by the Cebu City government.

The revision of the city’s tax rate is necessary to fund Mayor Michael Rama’s budget request for 2023. Local taxes have been identified as one of the major sources of revenues for the city government.

Wenceslao said that pending the review of his proposed adjustments to the Omnibus Revenue Code, Council members will also convene in a special session on Wednesday, Dec. 28, to discuss Rama’s revised 2023 budget.