Municipal assessors in the province made significant progress in their re-appraisal of real properties located in their respective local government units (LGUs).
Gov. Gwen Garcia, who convened on Monday, June 26, all the assessors, engineers, treasurers, and mayor’s representatives from Cebu’s 44 municipalities, welcomed this development.
“Dili mana kay aron gusto ko lisud-lisoron ang negosyo. Dili. We will just collect what is right. Unsa bay sakto ba. Kay ngano man, mayo mana’g atong isud sa atong bulsa? Mosud mana sa panudlanan aron maoy gamiton sa daghan natong mga plano para sa mga taw – both sa province ug sa lungsod,” Gov. Garcia said during the meeting.
The re-appraisal is part of the Capitol’s effort to strengthen real property tax collection to fund the various programs and services of the LGUs.
Among other well-performing LGUs, Sibonga, Consolacion, Dumanjug, Bantayan, and Liloan noted a triple digit increase in their revenue collections from the re-appraisal of real properties in their localities, as reported by their assessors during the meeting.
Re-appraisal
The governor called for that meeting to get updates from the assessors on the results of their re-appraisal of real property valuation, a mandate the governor had long given to the local governments. Monday's meeting marked a good development in Capitol's effort to raise more revenues, after the disappointing real property assessments by the LGUs in the past.
Capitol had previously formed a task force in each municipality that would carry out a more stringent and diligent assessment of real properties, including an assessment of the improvements done by establishments. This task force included a representative from the mayor’s office, the municipal assessor, municipal treasurer, and municipal engineer.
Section 232 of Republic Act No. 7160 or the Local Government Code of 1991 states that a province, city, and municipality may impose tax based on the assessed value of a real property such as land, building, machinery, and other improvements therein. From real property taxes, the Provincial Capitol is entitled to a 35% share. The municipality will get 40 percent, while the barangay’s share is 25 percent.| Carlo Lorenciana