'Realistic' budget proposal for '25 acting mayor's aim

CEBU City’s budget proposal for 2025 will be “realistic,” so assured Acting Mayor Raymond Alvin Garcia after state auditors flagged the City Government’s P50 billion budget projection in 2023 as “unrealistic.”

“My marching order is for a more realistic budget, dili kanang taas kaayo nga dili makab-ot (not too high to be unattainable),” Garcia told SunStar Cebu on Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024.

“I will submit it in October, but nagsige na mi og prepare sa budget (we are already preparing the budget),” he added.

The Office of the Mayor prepares the annual budget and submits it to the City Council, which conducts a series of hearings before it decides.

Garcia said the formulation of the 2025 budget is still within his term as acting mayor, as elected Mayor Michael Rama is currently serving his six-month preventive suspension, which started in May and will end in November.

Garcia did not provide any specifics about next year’s budget. He said that when creating the 2025 budget, he would take the local government’s revenue and expenses into account.

In its 2023 audit report, the Commission on Audit (COA) flagged Cebu City’s income projection of P50 billion as being “unrealistic,” stressing that the projection serves as the basis of the annual budget of any local government unit.

In 2023, the City’s income projection was P49.7 billion, but the actual income remitted to the City’s coffers was only P6.948 billion.

No special requests

When SunStar Cebu texted Rama to ask whether he had any special requests or additions for the 2025 budget, he replied, “none.”

According to state auditors, the “unrealistic” income projection has affected the City Government’s capability to formulate a sound financial plan as required under the law.

The COA said the income projection was based on the proposed revision to the Real Property Tax (RPT) Code, which has remained unapproved and is still under deliberation by the City Council.

RPT Code revision

The council has yet to approve the proposed revision of the RPT, which has remained unchanged since 2004. It has taken into consideration the pleas of the business sector and property owners regarding the economic impact of the proposal.

Rama, in a news forum on July 30, explained that the P50 billion did not come out of thin air as it was formulated in coordination with the Local Finance Committee (LFC).

For the 2024 annual budget, the LFC proposed almost a P100 billion budget. However, the City Council slashed it down to P25 billion.

Rama was displeased with the budget slashing and vetoed several items of the 2024 budget ordinance. The council, however, overrode his vetoes. / EHP