Urdaneta cuts budget for 2009
URDANETA CITY–Anticipating the impact of the global financial crisis this year on the local economy, the city government has appropriated a 2009 budget of P539 million, which is 3.79 percent lower than last year’s allocation.
Nonetheless, Mayor Amadeo Perez Jr. said the city will remain financially stable and economically progressive given developments undertaken last year.
“The year 2008 may have been a challenging one for all of us, but there is no denying that we have taken great strides in changing Urdaneta for the better,” he said during his State of the City address last week.
Perez cited the city’s budget savings of P51-million last year through austere expenditures and improved tax collection efforts.
Perez said this P51-million savings, which the city can use as a buffer this year, is no mean feat given the P23 million reduction in their Internal Revenue Allotment owing to the creation of 16 new cities and another reduction of P7 million during the second half of 2008.
Revenue collections from city business and real property taxes increased in 2008 by 17 percent and 36 percent, respectively.
Perez also noted that for 2008, the city government infused P258 million for the implementation of infrastructure projects.
The mayor said the economic crisis has proven to be a “unifying force all sectors to share resources and find creative ways to sustain the gains of their developmental endeavors”.#
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