PROPERTY owners will get a reprieve from paying higher real property taxes this year, as the Cebu City Council yesterday approved the ordinance deferring to next year the implementation of the revised schedule of fair market values (FMV) for 2003.

The council also tasked the committee on budget and finance to sit with the team created by Mayor Tomas Osmeña to review the schedule of FMV.

Those who already paid higher taxes before the moratorium was passed will be given tax credits by City Hall.

A taxpayer who paid P1,000 this year and had tax dues of only P800 in the previous year will get a tax credit of P200. The P200 will be deducted from his payables in 2005, when the ordinance takes effect.

Cebu City Councilor Jocelyn Pesquera, who heads the budget committee, will discuss with City Administrator Juan Saul Montecillo and City Treasurer Ofelia Oliva the need to issue certificates for tax credits.

Councilor Nestor Archival raised the need for the certificates so that those who made "overpayments" will know how they can claim their tax credits.

The tax moratorium will take effect after the amendatory ordinance is published in the newspapers.

Deadline

The council asked the City Secretary's Office for the immediate publication of the measure as soon as Osmeña and Acting Vice Mayor Gabriel Leyson sign it, so this can be implemented before the March 31 deadline for the payment of realty taxes for the first quarter.

Among the matters the committee on budget will address is the discrepancy in the assessments of buildings and agricultural lands.

Certain strips of land in interior portion, for instance, are reportedly valued at the same level as lots located along the road.

What the mayor wanted to happen after the revision of taxes is to "have more taxpayers paying less and the moneyed people paying more so the target collection is still achieved."

However, during the implementation, everything was increased.

Also raised was the need to correct the computations for the depreciation of properties, as the City Assessor's Office set the depreciation by 100 years.

The depreciation value for a house worth P100,000, for example, was only P1,000 for each year.

Tax mapping

Councilors also raised the need for the assessor's office to complete the tax mapping so the assessment of properties will be accurate.

The business sector had strongly lobbied for the postponement of the increase in realty tax assessments, citing economic difficulties.

Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Jose Ng had thanked Mayor Osmeña for being responsive to their request.

Osmeña, for his part, had asked the City Council to amend the effectivity of the revised schedule of FMV to 2004.

"While we are enthusiastic to implement projects that are to be funded out of these taxes to be paid by our constituents, we cannot ignore their economic difficulties," the mayor said in a letter to the council.

Osmeña asked for the special session yesterday to approve the amendatory ordinance.