BAGUIO CITY – The City Council wants the Local Finance Committee to make the appropriate adjustments in the income statement of the P2.054 billion 2018 annual budget of the local government to reflect the true income that will be derived by the city exclusive of the funds to be generated from the implementation of the supposed revised schedule of market values that remains unacted upon.
Local legislators claimed that to stick with the original proposal of the city relative to the proposed 2018 annual budget will result to the realization of a budget deficit, because the local government will not be able to collect the projected increase in the income to be derived from the adjustment of the schedule of market values for lands in the city considering the proposed ordinance containing the adjustments has yet to be acted upon.
Supposedly, the local legislative body was to act on the proposed ordinance providing for the new schedule of market values for real properties in the city over the past several months but the matter had been time and again deferred following stiff opposition of various sectors against the proposed increase in real property taxes, even if the City Assessor’s Office already provided adjustments at the minimum level for the assessment levels and the projected market values of the land.
The council will again meet on December 18, 2017 to discuss pertinent issues concerning the proposed budget of the local government’s various departments before scheduling special sessions to probably approve the proposed budget incorporating appropriate adjustments before the end of the year.
The local government failed to make the necessary adjustments in its schedule of market values for real property taxes over the past two decades. It prompted the Bureau of Local Government Finance and the Department of Finance to call the attention of local officials to already act on the proposed adjustments of its real property taxes.
Under the provisions of the Local Government Code, or Republic Act (RA) 7160, local governments are mandated to adjust their schedule of market values every five years and their business taxes every three years to allow the prescribed taxes to conform to the trade of the times.
If the local legislative body is not able to approve the budget before the end of the year, it will be barred from deliberating other matters apart from the proposed budget and it will be given a 90-day period to act on the proposed budget of the city, else the local government will operate on a re-enacted budget next year.
Earlier, every councillor was assigned several departments to tackle their proposed budgets before the proposed appropriations for the said departments will be discussed en banc to lessen the time that will be spent by the local legislators in addressing the issues and concerns that will be raised by the individual legislators on items in the budget of the departments.
Part of the income statement of next year’s budget are the projected income that will be generated by the local government from the supposed revision of the schedule of market values for real property taxes that will be implemented next year
By Dexter A. See