By:
Vic Larato
ZAMBOANGA
CITY,
June 27 (PIA)- - Mayor Celso Lobregat once
again took pride yesterday in the sound fiscal management of his administration
that resulted in a well-balanced budget of the city government even as he
wished that the next mayor will not be somebody who will squander everything
the city has made over the years.
“I hope and pray the next mayor will be able to
continue the vision in managing the finances of the city and we hope somebody
will not squander everything we have,” Lobregat told the participants of the
Executive Budget Forum for Fiscal Year 2013.
“There are decisions to be made, and I hope we will
not be mesmerized by their promises and do not be scared of guns and goons. This
is a decision we have to make,” Lobregat further said as he pointed out that
when he assumed office in 2004, there was hardly any budget for infrastructure
projects.
In 2004, he said the city’s Personal Services
accounted for the biggest slice of the annual budget with P418 million, while
the appropriation for projects was only P159 million. “That is not even the
budget of our Integrated Bus Terminal, not even within the budget for our
Limaong Bridge project today,” the mayor said.
According to him, it was only in 2005 when the
city’s annual budget started to take new direction with new priorities that
focused on raising local tax collection and increasing appropriations for
projects and social services.
“It was in 2010 when we reaped the fruits of our sound
fiscal management by bringing down the General Services, which used to be the
highest over the years, from 46% to a record low of 30%, while increasing the
Social Services component of the budget from 29% to 40% in 2012,” Lobregat
said.
On local revenues, the chief executive said the city
government was only collecting P265 million in 2005, but with sound fiscal
management in place it slowly yet steadily increased to P326 million in 2006,
P408 million in 2007, P448 million in 2008, P485 million in 2009, P501 million
in 2010, P567 million in 2011, and the projected local tax collection for 2012
is P620 million.
On top of that, he added the city’s budget has substantially
increased so do the appropriations for social services, maintenance and other
operating expenses, projects and capital outlay and personal services, but on a
well-balanced appropriation.
Present during the budget forum were city department
heads and their assistants, administrative officers and division chiefs, high
school principals, and the judiciary from municipal to regional trial courts.- (JPA/VL/CIO/PIA9-ZBST)