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Monday, November 26, 2007
23% of proposed Cebu City budget goes to debt
THE Cebu City Council will start a series of budget hearings today to discuss with department heads the executive department’s proposed 2008 annual budget.
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The City’s estimated expenditures amount to P2.075 billion under the general fund and P432.644 million under special accounts. Special accounts include expenses for the City Transport system, abattoir, markets, City Traffic Operations Management (Citom), City Resource Management and Development Center (Cremdec) in Barangay Taptap, housing and hospitals.
Debt servicing gets the second biggest allocation, or at least 22.91 percent of the budget. That’s about P77 million less than the approved amount for debt servicing this year.
The general funds include the budget for debt servicing, which is pegged at P504.98 million. The City pays P500 million a year for the foreign loan it incurred when the City reclaimed Kawit Island for the 295-hectare South Road Properties (SRP).
With the proposed budget, the City hopes to increase the delivery of basic services and the infrastructure and utilities support to the SRP.
Aid to barangays, though, remains roughly the same as this year’s approved budget of P20.6 million.
Mayor Tomas Osmeña also committed to enhance tax collection and tax-mapping efforts, and to market the SRP to local and foreign investors.
Livable city
He said his administration aims to “provide budgetary support to the thrust of a balanced development with the intention of making the city a more livable city in the future.”
The mayor explained that the estimated expenses for personnel services (P214.167 million) and maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE, PP61,567 million) stayed true to the “skin and bones concept” used in preparing the 2007 budget, which was P2.28 billion.
Estimated expenditures for capital outlay amount to P156.91 million.
Osmeña earlier said that other expenditures for personnel services and the MOOE that will surface later on will be addressed by supplemental budgets.
According to the proposed annual general fund for 2008, the biggest allocation is for general public services at P846.348 million, or 38.39 percent of the budget.
The third biggest allocation is P249.196 million for health, nutrition and population control, which is 11.3 percent of the total budget.
Dropping
According to a comparative table that the executive department presented, a decrease was observed in the allocations for economic services (17.9 percent), the Local Development Fund (6.55 percent) and general public services (2.42 percent).
Based on a table presented, the allocations for those four sectors have been dropping in the past three years.
Debt servicing has also decreased from P576.3 million in 2006 to P581.3 million this year, and P504.9 million for next year.
But since the City’s foreign debt is in yen, the P504.9 million could grow depending on the exchange rate by the time the City is scheduled to pay.
The five percent allocation for the calamity fund increased to P87.3 million from P78.9 million last year.
The City Council will hold budget hearings today, tomorrow and Thursday and hopes to pass the budget during next week’s regular session. (RHM of Sun.Star Cebu)For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Manila. (November 26, 2007 issue)
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