CAPITOL EYES P4.5B BUDGET FOR 2018

Amount to fund operations of the Cebu South Bus Terminal and hospitals, among others.

The Cebu Provincial Government is proposing a P4.5-billion annual budget for 2018.

The bulk of the amount will be supported by the Province’s P3.121-billion Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) share from the National Government.

“This is the first time that the Province will get P3.121 billion in IRA, which is based on population, land area and income. Last year, we got only P2.9 billion,” said Provincial Budget Officer Danilo Rodas.

Rodas said the IRA of the Province is increasing every year because of its consistent economic growth.

The proposed annual budget will also be funded by local revenues amounting to P917 million.

The local income include payments of real property taxes, Cebu South Bus Terminal rentals, fees from district and provincial hospitals, rentals of properties, and proceeds from the P300-million sale of the Cebu International Convention Center.

The Province gets a share of the real property taxes of the different cities and municipalities.

“Real property tax is one of the basic components in the income of the local government unit,” Rodas said.

Of the P4.5-billion proposed budget, Rodas added that P38 million was appropriated for operations of the Cebu South Bus Terminal, P597 million for district and provincial hospitals, and about P3.8 billion for operations of the executive and legislative departments.

The proposed 2018 annual budget will be submitted to the Provincial Board for deliberation and approval. /