Cebu City council approves P14.6-B annual budget for 2025, slashes P3.3-B

The Cebu City Council on 27 December approved a P14.6 billion budget for 2025, cutting P3.3 billion from the original proposal.

During a "hybrid" special session, members raised questions about the proceedings and the plenary rules.

The slash represents an 18.44 percent cut from Mayor Raymond Alvin Garcia's proposed 17.9 billion budget.

Eight members voted in favor of the P14.6 billion budget, while seven voted against.

North District City Councilor Noel Wenceslao, who chairs the Committee on Budget and Finance, explained that the amendments were mainly reductions to better align with the city's estimated revenue for 2025, as well as the utilization of the 2024 budget.

According to Wenceslao, the City Treasurer's Office reported that the city's revenue as of 31 October was just over P8 billion, significantly lower than the projected income of more than P98 billion.

The committee noted that the actual income was far below the target income for 2024.

“It must be taken into consideration that when the proposed budget exceeds the actual income of the city, it negatively impacts the Cebu City Government. It will affect profit margins due to additional expenses, productivity due to opportunity cost, and financial stability due to decreased liquidity,” the committee report stated.

As a result, several budget allocations were reduced, including the Economic Recovery budget, which was slashed to P1 million from P100 million, and miscellaneous education expenses, which were reduced from P556 million to P500,000.

For miscellaneous expenses for city education initiatives, the budget was reduced from P2 million to P1 million; the Livelihood Program was cut from P100 million to P1 million; miscellaneous expenses for Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation were reduced from P2 million to P1 million; and other supplies and materials expenses were decreased from P3 million to P500,000.

The P25 million budget allocation for the PAAS 911 Emergency Call Handling System was reduced to P13 million.

The P250 million for the Digital Traffic Lights System (Phase 3) was reduced to zero.

The Senior Citizens Council budget was reduced from P10 million to P5 million; other supplies and materials for programs and activities were cut from P3.5 million to P1 million; other MOOE was reduced from P2 million to P1 million; the Comprehensive Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation budget was slashed from P200 million to P1 million; financial assistance to the Vice Mayor's League was cut from P3 million to zero; and the construction of the new legislative building was reduced from P100 million to zero.

However, a few allocations were increased, including the scholarship program from P331 million to P340 million, and health sector allotments from P100 million to P160 million.