The city government is expecting to collect P10 billion in revenues next year, newly minted City Treasurer Erwin Alparaque.
“If you are aware, our estimated collection for 2018 was P7.8 billion. The actual collection for that year was P8.54 billion. This year, 2019, our target is to reach P10 billion. Hopefully, we can (hit the target),” Alparaque said after the flag ceremony Monday at the City Hall grounds where his appointment as the city treasurer was announced.
“For this year, we have to collect P5.8 billion for local sources, the rest will be coming from the Internal Revenue Allotment,” he said as he provided updated data on the revenue collections.
As of April, the city collected P1.3 billion in business taxes, as the target for the year is about P2 billion.
The city government, he added, is targeting to collect P2 billion from real property taxes, while the rest of the target will come from other sources including economic enterprise revenues.
Even with the huge target, he said the city government is not increasing the tax rates this year.
“In 2017, we approved the increase of our taxes here. It was implemented in 2018. We have to wait for another five years before we can propose for another hike. According to the law, we cannot increase the rate of our taxes of not more than 10% for every five years,” he said.
Meanwhile, Alparaque said Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III signed his appointment as city treasurer last February 14.
He received it last week.
The position is the sole position under the local government unit whose appointing authority is the secretary of Finance and not to the city mayor.
He also mentioned that Mayor Sara Duterte endorsed him for the position. “Under the Local Government Code, the city mayor must submit three nominees to be appointed as the city treasurer.
However, the mayor gave her preference to me to be appointed as the city treasurer,” he said.
Alparaque served as the acting city treasurer since October 2 last year.
