The Cebu City Council and the Local Finance Committee (LFC) yesterday agreed to use P3.8 billion from the sale of the two lots in the South Road Properties (SRP) as the source for a P3.32 billion first Supplemental Budget (SB1).
From the P8.3 billion down payment of the two winning bidders, the LFC set aside P4.5 billion as part of the fund sources for the city’s P13 billion annual budget this year.
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The remaining P3.8 billion was identified as the source of SB1. Most of the supplemental budget will be used for the prepayment of the city’s outstanding SRP loan balance which is now around P2.4 billion.
Councilor Margot Osmeña argued that the P4.5 billion for the annual budget should not be discussed and considered as part of the annual budget’s fund source since the amount was vetoed by the mayor.
But City Accountant Mark Salomon said the mayor’s veto of the annual budget only referred to the provision inserted by the City Council.
He said the provision stated that the P4.5 billion worth of capital outlay projects in the annual budget should be sourced only from proceeds of the sale of the SRP lots.
But Osmeña remained firm that the veto would also include the P4.5 billion source of fund.
Though the councilors and the LFC didn’t agree on the mayor’s veto and its implications on the annual budget, they finally agreed to acknowledge the excess of the SRP sale as the fund source for SB 1.
Yesterday’s meeting between the committee on budget and finance and the LFC was the first discussion for the proposed SB1.
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