Cuevas: Collection exceeds revenue target by P2 billion

CEBU, Philippines - Less than two months before the year ends, the Cebu City Treasurer’s Office said it has already collected P12.7 billion in revenue 2015, or P2 billion more than the annual budget for this year.

City Treasurer Diwa Cuevas said her office has amassed a total of P12.78 billion as of November 8, or a surplus of over P2 billion that a city councilor proposed should be used to fund “urgent items” under the stalled Supplemental Budget-1.

Cuevas said that while the City Council actually approved a budget of P13.4 billion for this year, she deducted P3 billion from the amount since the city will no longer push through with domestic borrowings intended to prepay the city’s South Road Property loan after selling a portion of the property this year.

She said the excess in collection is due to the huge income from the sale of SRP lots, where the city government collected P8.3 billion from three giant developers that have acquired 45.2 hectares of the property.

Cuevas said the city has already projected an P8-billion revenue from the sale of the said lots, but the public bidding resulted to a total of P16.7 billion.

She made the disclosure during the first day of the budget hearing for the P8.9-billion 2016 Annual Budget yesterday.

In response to what she said, City Councilor Alvin Arcilla suggested that the excess money be used to fund “urgent items” in SB-1, whose approval the City Council, dominated by opposition group Bando Osmeña Pundok Kauswagan, has declined to pass.

“Why can’t we use the excess (revenue) to fund the PEI (productivity enhancement incentive) of the employees?” he asked colleagues.

Arcilla said the executive department was already asked by City Council members to seek for other sources of fund aside from the sale of SRP lots to fund SB-1.

He said revenue earned from the sale of SRP lots should not be used since there is a pending case before the court seeking to stop the city government from using the fund, which the executive department had identified as source for SB-1.

City Accountant Mark Salomon, on the other hand, said the excess in funds did not come from regular tax revenue but still from the sale of SRP lots, adding that this was the reason why SB-1 is funded by the SRP proceeds.

“Ang total nato nga collection for 2015 is wala pa ni-exceed sa atong projected nga P10 billion (target). Ang SB-1 man gud kinahanglan siya og excess of actual collection. Ang kana nga excess, sa usa ra ka item pero sa other items naa man tay deficiency. Wala pa ta kalapas sa projected collection. In a way, dili ta maka-source ato,” he said.

Salomon said SRP revenue is the sole source to fund the SB-1.

As of November 8, the CTO has collected P1.37 billion in business taxes and P400 million in other receipts.

It has yet to reach its projected P1.9 billion target in total business taxes and other receipts.

As to real property tax, the city has collected P734 million, which includes P32.6 million in garbage fees and P1.6 million in garbage penalties. The collection is P200 million less than the target of P947 million.

Also, the city collected P47.8 million in regulatory fees; P134 million from its economic enterprise; and P8.8 billion total extra ordinary receipts, with P8.3 billion coming from the sale of SRP lots, rental of Bigfoot studios at P6.7 million, P263.5 million from SM Prime Holdings, and P134.4 from FLI, aong others.

The City Council will again discuss the annual budget again tomorrow, with City Mayor Michael Rama saying he would have preferred that the legislative body tackle SB-1 ahead of the annual budget. –(FREEMAN)