THE CITY is in for more belt-tightening in the last quarter of the year.

This as city treasurer officially declared a projected revenue collection shortfall of P30 million from the P612 million targeted for collection until the end of the year, a big setback to the new city administration of Mayor Belen Fernandez.

With less than three months more to go before the end of 2013, City Treasurer Alcantara anticipates that the city government cannot meet under the approved annual budget of the city.

To avoid a huge deficit by yearend, the city government will have to further trim down expenses.

At the weekly executive meeting presided over by Mayor Belen Fernandez, Alcantara admitted that the shortfall is rooted in the finance committee’s overestimation of the expected income in some sources of revenues.

The city treasurer explained that the projected shortfall will come about due to the expected P5 million deficiency in business taxes from a projected income of P130 million; P10 million shortfall real property taxes with the target set at P42 million.

Alcantara added, only P58 million of the P78.9 million targeted collection from other local sources of revenue will likely be achieved until the end of the year.

On the other hand, the shortfall from market and slaughterhouse collection is only P1 million with a P50 million target.

The mayor said she will continuously monitor the collections in the market which is now reaching P1.4 million monthly in sharp contrast to the P345,000 monthly collections during the past three years of the previous Lim administration.

Fernandez already ordered a cut on the number of emergency workers and consultants, a moratorium on overtime work, reduction in the number of phone lines and cost-cutting measures on electricity consumption, among others.

MC ADORE SALE

Alcantara said the city’s total collection, excluding the P119 million proceeds from the sale of the controversial MC Adore building, stood at only P418.1 million as of end-August.

Another P156 million is guaranteed to be collected from September to December 31, 2013, she added.

Fernandez vowed that her administration will not use the MC Adore sale proceeds because the transaction remains under court litigation.

City Budget Officer Luz de Guzman, for her part, said only P18.4 million remains to be reverted in the city coffer and the city still has to settle electric bills from July to December in the amount of P27 million and its existing emergency workers, consultants and volunteers whose salaries, wages and honorarium total P15.2 million.

In response, Fernandez ordered all city hall officials and employees to initiate and adopt more belt-tightening and cost-cutting measures in their respective offices as she urged those in charge of collection to further intensify their collection activities.

Fernandez also called on the Sangguniang Panlungsod to do its share in addressing the city’s financial burdens by maximizing the efficiency of its regular employees instead of asking for the reversion of P4 million to defray the salaries of emergency workers and consultants.

The mayor also vowed that she will not let a shortfall happen again in the budget for 2014 and directed all department heads to prepare a more realistic and achievable budget to avoid overspending and ensure the availability of funds up to the end of the year.

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