- CHERYL G. CRUZ
The P3.250 billion General Fund Budget of the Bacolod City government for 2023 was approved by the Sangguniang Panlungsod on third and final reading during its regular session Wednesday, Dec. 7.
The budget for next year is the same as this year, following a P302.69 million reduction in the National Tax Allotment (NTA) share, Councilor Jude Thaddeus Sayson, chairperson of the SP Committee on Appropriations and Finance.
Sayson said during his budget presentation that to “soften the impact” of the NTA cut, the Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses (MOOEs) of all departments were reduced by 10 percent.”
The city offices are expected to improve the efficiency of their collections to compensate for the NTA reduction, he added in his committee report adopted by the SP at the start of the session before the corresponding appropriation ordinance was eventually approved on second, then on third and final reading, with Councilor Israel Salanga as presiding officer.
“The City Treasurer’s Office is expected to boost its tax collection, pursuant to Executive Order 22, series of 2022, which created the Task Force on Business and Tax Mapping,” Sayson said.
The Bacolod Housing Authority is also expected to improve collections from relocation sites; and the Office of the Building Official likewise expected to deliver through intensified inspection and collection, he added.
As per the proposal submitted by Mayor Alfredo Benitez to the SP Oct. 10, the MOOE gets the biggest slice of the budget pie at 43.51 percent, or P1.41 billion; personal services at 28.02 percent or P910 million; the special purpose appropriations and 20 percent development fund, each with an 11.01 percent share or more than P357 million; property, plant and equipment at 4.53 percent, or P147 million, and financial expenses at 1.92 percent, or P62.4 million.
“This budget was formulated based on a multipartite system of consultation with the local government collecting inputs from representatives of the private sector and nongovernment organizations,” Benitez said in his budget message. “Thereafter, the budget proposals submitted by our city government departments and offices underwent a series of deliberations and were subjected to serious inspection. Hence, we can say with confidence that this budget is in line with this administration’s platform of governance and shall address the foremost needs of our citizenry.”
Benitez said 57.21 percent, or P1.85 billion, will come from the NTA share, while 42.79 percent, or P1.39 billion, from Local Sources./CGC