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Administration, council play blame game, budget in limbo
The 2014 city budget draft bylaw is in limbo as the City Council has yet to endorse it, despite a promise to have it completed by the second week of this month
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he 2014 city budget draft bylaw is in limbo as the City Council has yet to endorse it, despite a promise to have it completed by the second week of this month.
The council, however, refused to take the blame, pointing out that the delay was caused by the administration's proposal to add trillions to the budget draft.
S. Andyka, a member of the council's Commission C overseeing finance and the budgetary body (Banggar), cited the body had completed the budget draft bylaw discussions in December, but had no choice but to repeat the process after the city administration proposed an additional Rp 2.5 trillion (US$207.5 million) in the budget.
'In December the executive added another Rp 2.5 trillion to the proposed budget, meaning we had to discuss the allocation from the beginning. They aimed to use it for land acquisition, flood mitigation and infrastructure projects,' Andyka said in Jakarta on Friday.
Andyka denied an accusation that said the Council had deliberately delayed the budgeting process as a bargaining chip, particularly ahead of the legislative election in April, when some of the councilors rerun for the legislative seats.
'Don't blame us. We definitely want to complete everything as scheduled. Some of us are running for legislative seats in the April election so of course we also want to show constituents that we do our jobs well,' he said.
Andyka added the council would endorse the budget draft bylaw before February.
Deputy Governor Basuki 'Ahok' Tjahaja Purnama declined to comment on the delay, saying: 'Only God knows. Just ask [the councilors].'
When asked about a potential internal conflict between commission members and council leaders, Ahok refused to comment.
'It's their internal matter. I don't want to interfere with their business,' he said.
Governor Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo said the administration could still run as he had issued a gubernatorial decree on a recurring budget.
The decree regulates that should the budget draft bylaw be not endorsed, the administration could still use its money to fund recurring programs, including the city administration's routine spending for operational and personnel expenditure and emergency situations.
'We have budgeted for routine expenses, including personnel expenditure, waste management and alike. Such a delay was expected. I've been doing this for eight years,' said Jokowi, referring to his tenure as the mayor of Surakarta in Central Java from 2005 to 2012.
University of Indonesia public policy expert Agus Pambagio said a delay was expected as this year was a political year.
'It's the year of politics with most councilors running for legislative seats in April, so it's common knowledge ' albeit there being no apparent evidence ' that councilors need ammunition and may ask for a 'negotiation fee' to the executive,' Agus said.
He added the city could use the gubernatorial decree on the recurring budget as a legal basis for using its funds as long as it followed administrative procedures.
'Every use of taxpayers' money should receive approval from the Finance Ministry,' he said.
The city administration claimed it had submitted a budget proposal to the City Council in October. The council held the first plenary session on the city budget draft bylaw in early December.
The city proposed to increase the city budget for 2014 to Rp 72 trillion from the Rp 69.5 trillion it had initially submitted to the council.
