MANDAUE City Mayor Gabriel Luis Quisumbing submitted a P4-billion proposed budget for 2018 to the City Council yesterday, the biggest budget proposed by a local chief executive in the City Government’s history.
The amount is almost double compared to the City’s P2.4 billion annual budget this year.
Quisumbing said the executive department initially wanted to submit a P2.6-billion budget for next year but they included an appropriation for the installation of drainage systems based on the City’s drainage master plan.
“It is the largest budget in the city’s history but more importantly the largest investment in infrastructure as it includes over P250 million for drainage, primarily in the Paknaan outfall and along Mahiga Creek,” he said.
The executive department also included an appropriation for the construction of a government center, which will be built behind the Mandaue City Sports Center.
The facility will house local and national government offices such as the Bureau of Internal Revenue, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, and National Bureau of Investigation.
The City, Quisumbing said, will take out a loan from the bank to fund the project.
Quisumbing said the banks offered the City a 15-year-period to pay off the loan at P100 million per year.
The mayor believes the City can pay for it because of its good financial standing.
The increase in the annual budget is also in line with the promise of Quisumbing during his State of the City Address (Soca) last July to increase infrastructure spending in 2018.
He said that 31 percent of the 2018 Annual Investment Plan and a portion of the City’s cash in bank amounting to P2.3 billion, will be allotted for infrastructure projects.
Under the 2018 proposed budget, the executive department also increased the appropriation for social services.
“But what the major change really is the reduction of the maintenance and other operating expenditures, which means less travels and less team building seminars,” he said.
The City Council will deliberate on the proposed budget in the coming weeks. (FMG)