Monday, May 12, 2008 Cebu City to pay P63.7M for interest alone
THE Cebu City executive department is asking the City Council to approve this year’s first supplemental budget (SB) amounting to P345.27 million, to be taken from “additional realized income.”
Loan payment for the South Road Properties (SRP) gets the biggest appropriation at P284,496,510. Of the amount, P63.73 million is for interest alone. The payment is due this August.
The first supplemental budget is in addition to the P2.51-billion General Fund for 2008.
During their session last Wednesday, the City Council directed the City’s department heads to attend the budget hearings this week.
City Councilor Jose Daluz III, chairman of the council committee on budget and finance, said the SB 1 is for loan payment, allocation for the mandated 10 percent government personnel service adjustment amounting to P38 million and the P12 million appropriation for salary adjustments for the previous year.
The executive depart-ment’s identified fund sources are the Internal Revenue Allotment share difference of P49 million and savings from past projects.
Another source is the unappropriated balance from the 2008 revenue for the general fund. Daluz said the City had an expected 2007 collection of P2.4 billion, but only appropriated P1.9 billion for 2008.
Aside from the P345.27 million, Mayor Tomas Osmeña also asked for the appropriation of P156.29 million for the Local Development Fund (LDF).
But Daluz said the amount will not be taken from new fund sources, as it was already included in the 2008 annual budget.
What the mayor is asking, he said, is the correction of the LDF classification, since the amount was placed as capital outlay instead of budget for maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE).
“Budgetary items…are prior year’s claims, increases in personal services, loan payments, and necessary increases in maintenance and operating expenses,” Osmeña told council members in the letter asking for the approval of the SB 1.
The SRP budget is broken down into the first loan payment of P48.793 million, second loan payment of P171.911 million and interest payment of P63.725 million.
The second biggest general fund appropriation is P10.95 million for the Office of the Mayor.
Of the amount, P7.26 million is for personal services, P4.74 million for salaries and wages of casual employees and P3.7 million for MOOE.
The third biggest allocation is Cebu City Medical Center’s P6.53 million, followed by the Department of Engineering and Public Works’ P5.7 million and the Department of Public Services’ P5.44 million.
Daluz said that fund sources for the SB 1 do not include the expected P480 million that the Gokongweis will give as final payment for the sale of the City Hall Block at the North Reclamation Area and revenue from the sale of SRP lots, which he said will be finalized this year. (RHM)
