The annual budget of the City Government of Davao for next year is seen to reach over P6.9 billion in line with the increase in the internal revenue allotment (IRA) worth P4.1 billion for 2017.
This is an increase of 14 percent compared to 2016’s IRA of P3.6 billion.
IRA, as defined by Bureau of Internal Revenue, is the local government unit’s share of revenues allotted by the national government through Department of Budget and Management.
Councilor Danilo Dayanghirang, chairperson for finance, means, ways, and appropriations, said that this year’s proposed budget approximately P six million higher compared to last year’s budget which is P6.3 billion.
He said the committee is already working on the second reading of the documents and that the council will still conduct marathon hearings so they could submit the budget to the national government by the end of December.
DBM data for 2017 IRA allocation showed that Davao Region will gain an IRA of P23.624 billion, which would be shared to the provinces (P5.606-billion), cities (P7.455-billion), municipalities (P6.802 billion) and barangays (P3.760 billion).
Dayanghirang added that the City Mayor’s Office would have the highest budget, to be followed by City Environment and Natural Resouces Office (CENRO), City Engineer’s Office, and Sangunniang Panglungsod.
He added that the city’s local tax collection is projected to grow, as the government is mandating the Local Government Units (LGUs) and the regional offices of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) to maximize revenue collections.
The law provides that each LGU is required to include in its annual budget some 20 percent of its IRA for development projects and five percent allocation for Local Disater Risk Reduction and Management Fund.
However, Dayanghirang said the local government and city assessor still has to review the 20 percent increase in the revenue collection in Davao City together with the TRAC team.
The TRAC team, according to Dayanghirang, is a group of people who sees the calculations of the tax in the city.
“We will work with TRAC team in parallel to have a consensus with the assessments,” Dayanghirang said, adding that they will be submitting the calculations on the assessments of the tax revenue collection by January or February 2017.
