MAYOR Mauricio Domogan assured on Wednesday that the local government is in good financial standing after Councilor Faustino Olowan tasked the Local Finance Committee to open Baguio City’s various bank accounts.
Domogan said the City Government has never been on the red in terms of balancing its finances stressing the city’s income has increased through the years.
This year the City Government is proposing for a P43-million additional income in the proposed P1.439-billion budget to come from additional collection of business taxes, shares in the Philippine Economic Zone Authority operations and increased Internal Revenue Allotment.
Another source of additional income, he stressed, are the possible earnings the City Government could gain from the sale of organic fertilizers produced by the Environmental Recycling System (ERS) which he hopes will be started this February.
This as he asked the City Council to approve the buy-back agreement of the fertilizers stressing the executive is serious in finally gaining something from the ERS output which has remained to be stocked in the decommissioned Irisan dumpsite.
The city mayor also stressed the income derived from selling these fertilizers will help reduce the cost of garbage disposal and management.
The local government, he maintained, has been reducing its spending on solid waste in the past years in time for the completion of an Integrated Solid Waste Disposal System.
Only when spending on solid waste is reduced will the city finally refocus its efforts in coming up with other development projects needed such as repairs of other vital infrastructures.