Bacolod Mayor Evelio Leonardia yesterday said he submitted his proposed 2008 annual budget for the city amounting to P1 billion or an increase of 32 percent compared to last year's budget, to the Sangguniang Panlungsod Tuesday.

We have finally reached the P1 billion mark, we are increasing our budget from P755 million last year to more than a billion in 2008, Leonardia said. This means an increase of 32 percent which has never happened in the history of Bacolod, he said. What is very significant is that for the first time the city has a budget that is more of "local income" than the Internal Revenue Allotment, he said.

The IRA now represents only 48 percent of the budget, which in the previous years would average about 60 percent, Leonardia added.

"I think this means a very healthy financial condition of the city and I believe that the local income is an indicator of our efficiency in collecting our local taxes," Leonardia said. He thanked the taxpayers for their support and cooperation.

Leonardia said he believes that the substantial and dramatic increase in the local income is also a show of confidence on the part of the taxpayers in the present administration.

"We hope to see that we will continue to be in partnership as we try to deliver basic services and as we direct Bacolod towards greater heights," he said, adding its all because they want to make Bacolod City a better place to live in.

Leonardia said among the highlights of the annual budget will be their major projects for 2008. He said they will be allocating P64.5 million for roads and bridges, P22 million for landbanking/land improvement, P10 million for building and other infrastructure projects and P 5 million for artesian wells.

Record shows that Bacolod is gradually weaning its dependency from the IRA by 58 percent in 2005, 60 percent in 2006 and 2007, and 48 percent in 2008.

Meanwhile, Leonardia said that in Region VI the two big cities are Bacolod and Iloilo and that in the 1960's and 1970's Bacolod always had a bigger budget than Iloilo. However, sometime in 2002, Iloilo overtook Bacolod and its budget became bigger since then, he said.

This happened during the term of Iloilo Mayor Jerry Treñas, he added.

"I congratulated (Mayor) Treñas and reminded him that I was not the mayor when Iloilo overtook Bacolod," Leonardia said. Last year Iloilo submitted a budget of P1 billion but it included the P350 million loan that they were preparing for their new city hall, he said.

Bacolod's P1 billion budget does not include the P394 million expected to come from the loan proceeds to finance the new government center, Leonardia said. He clarified that they are not competing with Iloilo but using the figures as a reference.

"With the increase in the annual budget of Bacolod for 2008, we feel that we are now catching up with Iloilo," Leonardia said.*CGS

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