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Govt agencies asked to trim their budget
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Posted on Jun 16 2005
Office of Budget and Management director Ed Tenorio is asking all government offices to revise their budget spending and get rid of can- do-without items.
“Take a look at your budget again. See if there are items that can be eliminated. Curtail the spending and stay within $213 million. That’s the challenge. Do it with less money,” said Tenorio during Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting.
The Babauta administration, which submitted a $225.6 million budget proposal for fiscal year 2006 on April 1, is set to submit a revised budget on July 1.
This week, the House Ways and Means Committee agreed to endorse only $206 million for FY 2006, saying this is the amount that can be generated from existing resources.
The administration’s budget package contains proposed revenue generating measures that are projected to raise an additional $19 million. These includes a $6,000 poker fee increase and passage of legislation to redirect local poker collection and tobacco funds to the General Fund.
Meantime, Finance Secretary reiterated his earlier orders against the granting of 100 percent travel advances to government employees and officials, travel using local funds, and salary advances.
He also called on department and agency heads to stop or minimize reallocation of local funds except for essential services.
Likewise, he said his office would no longer favor the use of local funds to reimburse federal accounts.
The government projects some 20 percent decline in annual revenue due to the ongoing downsizing within the garment industry.
The government receives an average of $30 million from user fee every year or about $2.5 million a month. In the last two months, though, the government collected less than $2 million each month in user fees.
