Bacolod City 's proposed budget of P1 billion for 2008, which was submitted by Mayor Evelio Leonardia to the Sangguniang Panlungsod in October, will be taken up in its regular session today.

Vice Mayor Jude Thaddeus Sayson said they held a committee hearing on the budget yesterday and he believes it will be passed today.

Leonardia said the 2008 budget has an increase of P245 million from last year's P755 million. The increase of 32 percent is unprecedented and is among the highest ever for any local government all over the Philippines , he said.

Iloilo will only have a P930 million budget next year, Leonardia said. “In other words, we have regained our position after Iloilo overtook Bacolod in the early 2000,” he said.

Leonardia said that from the 1960's to the 1980's, Bacolod always had a bigger budget than Iloilo . But sometime in 2001, Iloilo overtook Bacolod that he even congratulated Iloilo Mayor Jerry Treñas then, he said.

Leonardia, however, was not the mayor of Bacolod in 2001.

“What is significant is this is the first time we graduated from our dependence on the Internal Revenue Allotment share, “ Leonardia said.

According to the Department of Interior and Local Government about 90 percent of the local governments are dependent on the IRA, which usually comprises more than 50 percent of their budget, he said.

Leonardia said that a few years back, Bacolod City was about 60 percent dependent on the IRA because the local taxes was always small. But this time in our budget, we will have 52 percent local income and 48 percent IRA, he said.

This is because of the increase in business and real property taxes which is an indicator of the healthy financial condition of Bacolod , he added.

Leonardia had earlier said he believes that the substantial and dramatic increase in the local income is also a show of confidence on the part of the taxpayers in the present administration.

“That is why no matter what my political detractors say, they cannot argue with figures,” he said. “We started this administration with a budget of about P635 million and it is now almost double which

was our target when I started,” he said.

The increase in the annual budget will improve the overall services of the city, Leonardia said, adding that they will also have a bigger budget for infrastructure for 2008.*CGS

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