Bacolod City’s 2010 budget reaches P1.120 B mark
BACOLOD CITY – The Sangguniang Panlungsod of Bacolod City approved recently an Executive Budget for 2010 in the amount of P1.120 billion.
The approved budget is higher by P20 million than this year’s budget, said Councilor Al Victor Espino, chair of the Committee on Appropriations and Finance.
In a budget message forwarded to the Bacolod City Council, City Mayor Evelio Leonardia said that the 2010 budget means “our ability not to lose focus on the right tract and steady direction despite the distractions and controversies hurled by its detractors.”
Leonardia has proposed for an additional P500 Emergency Cost of Living Allowance (Ecola) by making the said monthly privilege from P1,000 to P1,500 effective January 2010.
He also said that part of the executive budget next year is the adaptation of the revised index of occupational groupings for its various services in relation to the implementation of the Salary Standardization Law III (SSL III).
“We have encountered difficulties in implementing the said SSLIII due to the excess in the 45 percent Personal Services limitation, but since this administration is bent on giving our employees what is deemed due them, we have “engineered” some scheme just to implement the said law starting January 1, 2010,” Leonardia said.
Meanwhile, Councilot Espino said that in terms of social services, the city designed an annual budget next year in the amount of P217.2 million. He also mentioned that on the part of health program, the total appropriation for health services is P98.7 million.
Leonardia also emphasized that the other priorities for next year’s budget were Veterinary Services, Bacolod Housing Authority, Socio Economic Enterprise Units, City Cooperative and Development and also the Bacolod City College (BCC).
