By Dolly Yasa
Bacolod City – Councilor Jude Thaddeus Sayson, chairman of the Sangguniang Panlungsod’s Committee on Finance, said he will schedule committee hearings on the P3.250-billion budget for 2023 after All Saints’ and All Souls’ Days.
This, after Mayor Alfredo “Albee” Benitez submitted to the SP the proposed annual budget last week.
Benitez said the 2023 budget is similar to this year in terms of amount and priorities.
Sayson said he will start the hearings with the City Budget Office to ask them to explain the budget it prepared.
Afterwards, the committee will meet with the different line departments of the city government for their respective budgets.
Sayson said the payroll of regular employees comprises the bulk of the budget, amounting to about 45 percent, followed by the 20 percent Development Fund and the Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office (DRRMO) Fund which is mandated by law.
The newest item added to the annual budget is the Bacolod Comprehensive Health Program or BacCHP, which amounts to an initial P50 million allotted by the mayor, and a partial amount of P5 million for senior citizens, which can be augmented as they go along, Sayson said.
The fund sources of the 2023 annual budget are local revenues amounting to P1,390,791,418 and the National Tax Allotment totaling P1,859,208,582.
The budget details are: Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses – P1,413,999,055 (43.51 percent); Personal Services – P910,710,570 (28.02 percent); Special Purpose Appropriation – P357,957,665 (11.01 percent); 20 percent Development Fund – P357,841,720 (11.01 percent); Property, Plant and Equipment – P147,074,470 (4.53 percent); and Financial Expenses – P62,416,520 (1.92 percent).
In his budget message addressed to Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran and members of the SP, Benitez said the city continues to enjoy the effects of the Supreme Court decision in the consolidated cases of Mandanas et al vs. Executive Secretary and Garcia et al vs Executive Secretary.
But he pointed out that the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the nation as a whole has resulted in a general decrease in the amount of national taxes collected.
“Despite the decrease in the National Tax Allotment of the city, we enjoy stability attributing to our local sources. It is safe to say that the City of Bacolod has bounced back and is well within the path toward recovery, as the collection of real property tax, other local taxes, regular fees, and other non-tax revenues have all experienced a significant increase effected by our innovated tax collection efforts and unrelenting promotion of investment-friendly policies and programs,” he added.
