Dagupan OKs P948-M budget for 2018
THE city council, in its regular session on November 6, approved the unprecedented P948-million annual budget of Dagupan for 2018.
Councilor Jeslito Seen, chair of the committee on appropriations, said next year’s annual budget is 11% higher than this year’s P848-million budget.
The big increase is due to the need to cover the implementation of the third trance of the salary increase of the city officials and employees as approved by the Department of Budget and Management, Seen said.
He added that 14 health professionals will also be hired for the City Health Office (CHO) that will man the Dagupan City Diagnostic Center put up jointly by the Department of Health and the city government.
Next year’s budget also allocated P29 million for debt servicing of the more than P300-million loan obtained by the past city administration in 2004 for the construction of Malimgas Public Market.
City Budget Officer Luz de Guzman said finally only P45 million remain unpaid.
Seen said the 2018 budget also allocated P107 million to fund the 20 percent development fund and P52 million for the Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Fund.
He assured that the approved budget is a pro-poor budget since it will provide more services and livelihood opportunities to the marginal families in the city, i.e., fund scholarships to poor but deserving students of Dagupan so they can finish their education and improve their lives and that of their families.
The budget will be sourced from projected increase in revenue collections owing to the increased number of new businesses.
Seen projects the budget of Dagupan to increase to more than Php1 billion in 2019 which is a positive indicator of the new economic dynamism as a result of the continued trust and confidence of businessmen and other taxpayers of the city to the city government.
Asked by newsmen whether Dagupan can already be reclassified from second class to first class, Seen said the income of the city can already qualify it to become a first class city.
However, Congress has suspended the reclassification of second class cities to first class and has not been lifted. (Leonardo Micua)
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