THE Dagupan council passed and approved the city government’s P448 million budget for 2009 during its special session on Wednesday.

Vice Mayor Belen Fernandez, presiding officer of the council, said the approved budget is only five per cent higher than this year’s budget in the amount of P427 million.

She said the approved budget for next year is a very conservative amount, taking into account the global financial crisis that is expected to intensify next year,

Next year’s budget allocated P224.5 or 50 percent for general public service; P114 million or 26 per cent for economic activities; P28 million or six per cent for health, nutrition and population control; P19 million or four percent for social services; P22 million or five per cent, calamity fund; P37 million or eight percent for debt servicing; and P4.2 or one percent for aid to the barangays.

The priorities this year, she said, would be the same as next year’s, mainly to maintain the city’s vibrant economy.

These same priorities are expected to be reiterated by Mayor Alipio Fernandez Jr. in his State of the City Address slated in January next year.

Fernandez said with the deepening financial crisis looming in the horizon, it would be “adding salt to the injury if the city government will increase taxes next year or levy additional taxes.”

“It’s best for the city to hold off any plan to increase the taxes,” she said.

At the same time, she expressed an urgent need for the city government to find ways to help local businessmen promote their goods and services to avoid closures and lay-offs.

Fernandez said the Bangus Festival next year will be maximized as a marketing and promotional venue for Dagupan products to both the local and foreign market.

The vice mayor has been appointed by Mayor Alipio Fernandez Jr. to chair next year’s Bangus Festival again, to ensure another successful event. —LM

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