Quezon City Mayor Herbert Bautista bannered the city’s total nine-month income of P15.18 billion from taxes and fees during his State-of-the-City Address yesterday.
Bautista said the city government is confident it will surpass last year’s budget target with a surplus of P16.1 million.
“As of Oct. 3, real property tax collections have improved by 21.88 percent, breaching the P6-billion mark in just nine months. Collection from business taxes have improved by 15.16 percent to reach P8.031 billion during the nine-month period,” he said.
Socialized housing tax and idle land tax have generated P503.54 million in revenues to sustain the city government’s shelter programs, Bautista said.
He, however, said the city government had to take into account the “added cost of burden of a substantially increased expense for garbage hauling and disposal.”
“We have to adjust to accommodate this significant added expense,” he said.
Bautista said Quezon City, home to 72,538 registered business establishments, will continue to have a vibrant business climate.
“As assessed by the National Competitiveness Council, Quezon City is no. 2 in economic dynamism in the country beaten only by Pasay City, which has been able to expand its area available for business reclaiming land from Mania Bay,” he said.