The Commission on Audit (COA) said the Pateros municipal government failed to meet its revenue targets by P5.6 million in 2021.
COA released the 2021 annual audit report for the Pateros municipal government.
Under the Observations and Recommendations, COA said “the Municipality has not slightly met its revenue projections for the year by P5.610 million due to lack of periodic review on revenue accounts which fell short in collections, contrary to Section 316 of RA No. 7160 and DBM Local Budget Circular (LBC) No. 112 dated June 10, 2016."
“Thus, the inability of the Municipality to attain the projected income could result in non-implementation of certain projects essential in the delivery of public service,” COA said.
The Pateros municipal government projected to collect P129.98 million in revenues in 2021 to finance its programs and projects.
However, the actual income amounted to P124.37 million, short by P5.6 million compared to the projected revenue, equivalent to 95.68 percent.
Of the income accounts of Pateros, 15 missed the projected income by P19.88 million, eight surpassed the projections, and three registered collection without projection.
The accounts that surpassed the targets, COA said, were school fees, real property tax basic, property transfer tax, other taxes, tax on delivery trucks and vans, and clearance and certification fees.
Accounts that missed the targets included business tax, permit fees, and inspection fees.
“The situations where projected revenues are not realized gave rise to an indication of the need to improve the forecasting system of the Municipality. The realization of the targets provides assurance in the funding of plans and programs which are likewise spelled out in the budget. On the other hand, the inability to attain the projected income could result in non-implementation of certain projects which are essential in the delivery of public service. Hence, periodic review of the performance is needed to further improve collection efficiency,” according to the COA report.
COA recommended to the Pateros municipal government to “involve the MTO and other Departments concerned in generating revenues to meet its targets.”
“Require the MTO to accomplish the Quarterly Report of Income to keep track of the status of revenue generation; and require the concerned officials to conduct periodic review of the Quarterly Report of Income to ascertain whether collection targets are attained, and to provide assurance of improved finances for the operations of the Municipality,” the COA report added.
The Pateros municipal government said it “took note of the recommendation and informed that QAR is now in use starting CY 2022 as tool for the periodic review of the Municipality’s financial performance.”