Iloilo City’s budget for 2021 is slightly lower compared to the current year’s allocation.
The Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) approved the 2021 budget amounting to P2.608 billion, down by 3.57 percent from 2020’s P2.7 billion.
Mayor Jerry Treñas cited the closure of several businesses in the city due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic as a primary reason for the decrease.
Of the approved budget, 52.69 percent or P1.3 billion will be sourced from local taxes, 44.66 percent or 1.2 billion from the Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA), and .65 percent or P17 million from the city’s share from the economic zone.
The bulk of the budget or P897 million went to personal services, P1 billion to maintenance and other operating expenses, P45 million to capital outlay, and P664 million to special purpose appropriation.
The operation of the Local Economic Enterprise (LEE), meanwhile, will come from estimated receipts of the city government-run slaughterhouse and public markets amounting to P79 million, higher by 2.13 percent than P77 million this year.
The budget cut resulted in the reduction of allocations for the daily pay of employees on job order basis, allowances provided to national government officials, travel expenses, and maintenance and other operating expenses.IMT
