Questioning The Remaining Budget For Employees Of IDR 108 Billion, The West Sumatra DPRD Suspects The Realization Is Low

Chairman of the West Sumatra DPRD Supardi (two from the right front) with the Governor of West Sumatra Mahyeldi during a plenary meeting. (ANTARA/HO-Humas of the West Sumatra DPRD).

The West Sumatra Provincial DPRD (West Sumatra) questioned the remaining budget for local government employees which reached Rp108.8 billion or about six percent of the total 2022 APBD.

"It needs to be investigated whether the amount of this employee expenditure is due to inaccurate staffing data or due to low realization," said West Sumatra DPRD Chairman Supardi in Padang, West Sumatra, Thursday, June 15, quoted by Antara.

According to Supardi, the remaining budget for employee expenditure allocated in the 2022 APBD is far above the 2.5 percent salary access.

In addition to personnel spending, the DPRD also highlighted the original regional income (PAD) of West Sumatra Province. Local PAD is known to still rely on motor vehicle taxes and transfer duties for motorized vehicles (PKB and BBNKB), with the average realization every year always above 105 percent.

"This also needs to be explored whether because the target set is too low," he said.

Then, the allocation of capital expenditures related to public service infrastructure is also in the spotlight of the legislative body. This is because the allocation has only reached six percent of the total regional expenditure or around Rp. 378.135 billion.

The allocation is still far from mandated by Law Number 1 of 2022, where public service infrastructure spending is allocated in stages by 40 percent of total regional spending.

The Gerindra Party politician also highlighted the remaining more budget use (silpa) for the 2022 APBD amounting to Rp289,279 billion. Meanwhile, the silpa planned to cover the 2023 APBD deficit is Rp350 billion.

"In the revised APBD, it is necessary to find additional income to cover the deficit," he said.