DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 17 June) – The City Council is still waiting for the budget from the city’s executive branch for its first supplemental budget for the year, according to the chair of the committee on finance.
Speaking at Monday’s Kapehan sa SM, councilor Danilo Dayanghirang said they are still waiting for the City Mayor’s Office to submit to the city council the proposed supplemental budget 1 (SB1), with a certification from the City Treasurer’s Office that there are available funds.
“As a practice, we are supposed to have supplemental budgets every quarter,” Dayanghirang said. “But we are still waiting for the City Treasurer’s Office.”
The councilor attributed the delay in the calculation of surplus and available savings from the previous year.
“Before we can enact the ordinances approving the amount, there should be a certification from the CTO,” he said.
The sources of funding include income from business permits, aside from the savings from the previous budget and the city’s other income-generating collection agencies such as the public markets.
“We cannot reduce the amount, the city council is only there to deliberate and approve,” Dayanghirang said, adding that it is up to City Hall to itemize the supplemental budget.
The city council last year approved a total of P639 million in three supplemental budgets.
SB1, approved in May 2013, amounted to P159.98 million. SB2, meanwhile, amounted to P235 million and SB3 amounted to P245 million.
The largest allocations for the past three supplemental budgets went to the City Mayor’s Office, with its Lingap Programs and Peace and Order funding being among the highest-funded items in the budget.
Davao City’s budget could reach as high as P6 billion next year if funds are properly collected by the collecting agencies, according to Dayanghirang.
“At the minimum, it’s possible that our budget could reach P5.4 billion,” he said.
He said there was “usually an annual increase of budget.”
The budget for the calendar year 2014 was P5.1 billion, after months of intense committee hearings.
He said the increased budget would be very possible, adding that the City Treasurer’s Office has intensified collections.
