THE Cebu City Government eyes at least P3 billion for its first supplemental budget this year.
City Councilor Raymond Alvin Garcia, budget and finance committee chairman, said the Local Finance Committee has started deliberating for the first supplemental budget.
Garcia said the largest chunk of the proposed supplemental budget will go to the payment of the South Road Properties (SRP) loan, which is almost P1.2 billion.
Another large cut of the proposed supplemental budget is for the vaccination program in the city, amounting to P400 million.
The largest allocation of the P400 million budget will be for the manpower who will be needed once the City opens more vaccination sites.
Garcia said also included in the P400 million are equipment like refrigerators for the storage of Covid-19 vaccines.
The City might also purchase vehicles for the transportation of vaccines, he said.
The supplemental budget will be sourced from the SRP lot proceeds.
Garcia said the City has no other revenue to be used for the supplemental budget as the collection for the business and real property taxes has not been good because of the pandemic.
He said the remaining proceeds of the SRP lot sales is P5 billion.
The deliberation for SB 1 is still at the Local Finance Committee level.
After the committee finalizes the proposed budget and expenditures, the proposal will be endorsed to the mayor’s office.
The mayor’s office will then submit a proposal to the City Council for final deliberation and approval. (JJL)