Mayor Jerry Treñas is expecting a lower budget for Iloilo City next year.
In a media interview, Treñas said they were told by the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) that the Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) of the city government will go down by P300 million.
“Wala pa final estimate together with the local income next year but the IRA will be down by P300 million.”
According to Treñas, the city government’s collection last year and in 2020 was affected by the implementation of COVID-19 pandemic restrictions.
Section 284 of the Local Government Code provides that “LGUs shall have a forty percent (40%) share in the national internal revenue taxes (NIRT) based on the collection of the third fiscal year preceding the current fiscal year.”
According to Treñas, the lower IRA share will affect some of the appropriations by the city government.
“One probably is the allowances to national government agency employees and officials as among the first to be affected,” he said.
The mayor noted said the city government extends assistance to police, judges, prosecutors, and teachers.
The IRA of the city this year is estimated at P1,607,980,950, higher by 14 percent compared to the 2021 projection at P1,217,209,871.
Of the city’s P3.083 billion 2022 budget, 42.15 percent came from the National Tax Allotment (NTA) or IRA, 47.28 percent from local revenues and income, and 0.57 percent from economic zone share.IMT
