City enters 2005 without a budget
Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
After almost a month of deliberations, the City Council decided on Friday to delay approval of the 2005 budget draft until Jan. 6. when the final session will take place.
The unprecedented decision, meaning the city enters the new year without an approved budget, was made because several council factions were not ready with their final statements that were supposed to be read on Friday.
"The last deliberation session on Thursday ended at 9:30 p.m. We could not meet the schedule to deliver our final comments today ... we need more time to prepare," leader of the Golkar Party faction, Inggard Joshua, told The Jakarta Post on Friday.
However, Dani Anwar of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) faction decried Inggard's argument, saying that all factions had enough time to draft their comments for the plenary session.
He said that all factions had given their agreement to approve the Rp 14 trillion (US$1.5 billion) budget proposed by the administration, a sum slightly higher than the Rp 13.83 trillion originally stated in the draft.
"I'd like to know what is the real reason for the postponement, as it may open the possibility for councillors to lobby officials for their own interests," remarked the leader of the council's Commission E for health, education and people's welfare.
The budget increase came as a surprise with the administration initially expecting a deficit. This was due to erroneous calculation of unspent funds from the 2004 budget.
The administration found that revenue from regional taxes would increase to Rp 6.91 trillion from an estimated Rp 6.72 trillion, while shared revenue from the central government would increase to Rp 5.25 trillion from Rp 4.94 trillion.
Another councillor, speaking on the condition of anonymity, revealed that the approval of the postponement was set up just as the council's drafting committee had agreed on the revision of budget spending.
According to the councillor, after it became known that the city budget was projected to post a surplus due to the revenue increase, each of the council's commissions and their respective partners took the opportunity to propose more programs to spend the surplus.
"All parties are happy with the figures. Thursday's deliberation was only to argue whether the factions' final comments would be read out on Friday," he told the Post.
Head of the administration's financial bureau Syauki Yahya said that his office had informed the Ministry of Home Affairs about the postponement.
"The delay is only for few days ... it will not affect the administration's daily activities because even if we need money to pay civil servant's salaries, by law we're allowed to use available money from last year's budget," he said.