Authorities told spend prudently

Authorities told spend prudently

JAKARTA (JP): Councillors urged the city administration on
Tuesday to spend prudently in the 2001 fiscal year over a
prediction of an increase in the city budget.

The councillors also asked the city administration to pay more
attention to poor people, citing that a social gap between the
poor and the rich would only provoke unrest.

Chairman of the council's finance commission Amarullah Asbah
and Deputy Council Speaker Muhammad Suwardi separately said the
city administration would receive more funds in the next fiscal
year with the increase in vehicular taxes which might increase
the city's revenue by Rp 1.5 trillion (US$163 million).

"The extra funds should be spent wisely. The city
administration should use the money to enhance security here,
since tax payers want safety," Amarullah, a Golkar Party
councillor, said.

He was commenting on a recent statement by the city
administration that it predicted revenues of up to Rp 7 trillion,
mostly from tax and public contributions for the 2001 fiscal
year. (asa)