City to ever record new budget surplus

JAKARTA (JP): The city administration expects to achieve a Rp 400 billion (US$42,100) surplus in the nine-month budget period, ending this month, due to a remarkable increase in its overall earnings, City Revenue Agency head Deden Supriyadi said on Wednesday.

Most of the surplus, so far, is derived from a variety of taxes, particularly the vehicle tax which has shown a significant increase during the period.

"Jakartans appear very eager to pay the vehicle tax," Deden told journalists.

Until Nov. 20, the agency has managed to collect earnings four percent higher than the revised target of Rp 4.05 trillion, he added.

"We've calculated that by Dec. 20, when we have to close all accounts of the budget, we will have accumulated Rp 4.4 trillion of revenues within the last nine month period of the 2000 fiscal year," he explained.

The target for the entire city's revenue was initially set at Rp 3.38 trillion. It was later put at Rp 4.05 trillion after the city administration revealed an "unexpected" surplus of Rp 669.7 billion. The finding was urgently brought to the city council seeking approval to update the budget projection.

According to Deden, the outstanding hike in this year's city revenues is mainly expected from the vehicle tax and fees collected for the transfer of vehicle ownership.

Under the current revised budget, revenue collected from the vehicle tax had already been set at Rp 35.88 billion, or 10 percent higher than the previous target. Meanwhile, the fees collected for vehicle ownership transfers was set at Rp 290.69 billion, which is almost double the previous figure.

By the end of the fiscal year, the administration has found that the financial contribution from these two sectors has grown slightly higher again, Deden said.

This wonderful surplus projection, he added, showed promising signs of the economic recovery in the capital, which has been badly hit since 1998 by the economic crisis.

The 2000 city budget, set slightly lower than the previous year, was initially forecast in a pessimistic mood due to the country's economic uncertainties, Deden explained.

He further commented that the expected surplus in city revenues has provided strong confidence in the city administration to reach the 2001 draft budget targets, which forecasts Rp 7.49 trillion in revenues.

"We will, for example, continue our campaign efforts to increase people's awareness of the taxes. Moreover, we would like to receive feedback from people if our regulations or officers burden them," Deden said.

"We do not want the peoples' enthusiasm for paying taxes to be hampered by the poor attitude or services of our officers," he added. (dja)