City draft budget yet to be discussed
City draft budget yet to be discussed
Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The City Council and the city administration have yet to begin
discussion of the 2003 draft budget, which is expected to
increase by about 13 percent from Rp 9.7 trillion in 2002 to
nearly Rp 11 trillion.
The administration delivered the draft to the council last
week, but as of Thursday deliberation of the draft had yet to
begin despite there being only two weeks before the new year.
The revenue sources for the 2003 budget draft do not differ
greatly from last year's budget, with the administration still
deriving the majority of its revenue from taxes and levies.
This is largely because city-owned assets, city-owned
companies and joint-venture companies are still unable to make
significant contributing to the budget. These city-owned assets
are collectively expected to account for just Rp 67.3 billion of
the entire budget.
"This means the budgets will still be a burden on the public,
because city-owned companies, assets and other companies have
been poorly managed by the city administration," said Dani Anwar,
a member of City Council Commission B for economic affairs.
According to the draft budget, fuel taxes will be significant
source of income next year, expected to contribute some Rp 1.53
trillion to the budget. This follows the recent implementation of
the gas tax in the city.
Vehicle taxes will continue to account for a large portion of
the budget, contributing Rp 1.21 trillion. Another significant
revenue source is expected to be shared taxes with the central
government to the amount of Rp 3.1 trillion.
Other significant revenue sources include taxes from
restaurants, entertainment centers, billboards and underground
water use. On the levy side, much of the money is expected to
come from health services, street parking, vehicle tests,
cemetery services and waste collection services.
On the spending side, half of the budget will be used to
finance the activities of such city apparatus as the
administration and the public order office.
Syambudi Bachri, a councillor from the National Mandate Party
(PAN), criticized the draft city budget for not prioritizing
economic growth in the city.
"As you can see, the city administration has budgeted over Rp
5 trillion for the administration and public order, while it only
budgeted Rp 457.9 billion for the economic sector. How can our
economy recover if it is not given priority?" he asked.
Prioritizing public order, according to Syambudi, will only
increase the number and intensity of raids on street vendors and
other residents working in the informal sector, which could
result in violent opposition.
"I think cracking down on these people now will be
counterproductive," Syambudi said.
A number of councillors also criticized the lack of time they
have to study the draft budget. They said it was unlikely
councillors would have the time to examine each of the 14 volumes
of the draft, which each volume weighing in at about 500 pages.
"How can we examine all of these papers in less than a month?"
Abdul Aziz Madnur, a councillor on Commission B, asked.