By LITO RULONA Correspondent THE city council’s committee on finance, budget and appropriations would summon members of the local finance committee so they could explain Mayor Oscar Moreno’s proposed P5.4-billion budget for 2017. Councilor Teodulfo Lao Jr., vice chairman of the council’s finance committee, assured this after a former councilor, President Elipe, called the proposed budget “overbloated.” City treasurer Glenn Bañez laughed off the ex-councilor’s remarks, saying there was “no such as an overbloated budget.” But Lao said there was a need for the local finance committee to convince councilors that the proposed P5.4-billion budget would be realistic and that city hall would not end up overspending next year. “This must be discussed thoroughly so the city council would understand how the local finance committee came up with such proposal. The taxes collected this year would need to be looked into,” Lao said. He said the last thing the city council wants is to have a budget deficit. “If this is an ambitious budget unya dili nimo ma-justify, then daghan ang mag-suffer and so, it must be based on the actual collections,” said Lao. Lao also cited the Updated Manual Budget Operation of the Bureau of Local Government Finance (BLGF) that supposedly suggests that annual budgets should only be increased by 10 percent from the previous year’s. “This book should be the guide of every local government unit. Mao nga kini atong tan-awon pag-ayo,” he said. Lao added: “Kung mikita lamang kita karon og P4 billion, then the additional 10 percent is only P400 million or a total of P4.4 billion.” He also said the 2017 budget proponents should also support their proposal with documents. Lao noted that this year’s approved annual budget  is P2.8 billion, and that the city council subsequently gave the Moreno administration a supplemental budget of P1.2 billion. He warned that setting next year’s tax target too high could result in a budget deficit.