THE City Treasurer’s Office (CTO) wants to purchase vehicles so its personnel could inspect and identify real properties in the urban and rural areas of Cebu City.
During the budget hearing at the City Council on Thursday, Aug. 29, 2019, CTO acting head Jerone Castillo said the CTO needs P68 million from the P2.5 billion second supplemental budget; P8 million of the budget will be spent on purchasing vehicles.
The City Council, dominated by Labella’s allies, is deliberating the second supplemental budget submitted by the mayor’s office. Councilor Raymond Garcia, majority floor leader, expects the approval of the proposed budget in the next regular session on Sept. 3.
Castillo said Labella had instructed him before the budget hearing to identify the properties, most of which are in the mountain villages, and impose tax on them properly.
The CTO inspectors, Castillo said, must have new vehicles to intensify the collection of real property taxes.
Real property tax is one of the biggest sources of funds for the barangays and special education program of the City.
According to Castillo, his office has plans to provide a pick-up truck and a van to the CTO personnel whose task is to inspect the real properties in the urban and rural areas of the city.
All the city’s 80 barangays have shares of the taxes collected from properties situated in their respective jurisdictions, said Castillo.
The CTO personnel will visit the villages in September to urge the people to help them identify real properties in their areas that have yet to be taxed.
Castillo said Labella had asked the CTO not to adjust the tax rates.
“We will not adjust the evaluation levels; we just have to identify all the property owners and tax them properly,” he said.
The construction of buildings and other infrastructures in the city contributes to the increase of the real property taxes collected by the CTO.
Castillo said local government units should rely more on real property taxes, not in business taxes as businesses “come and go.”
“We have properties there that stay forever,” he said.
The CTO’s other expenditures include office equipment, furniture and fixtures, and information and communication technology equipment. (JJL)