<![CDATA[Fiscal Year 2026 marks the deepest fiscal compression in twenty-five years of Indonesian decentralisation: Transfers to Regions contracted by 24 percent to IDR 692.99 trillion and the Physical Special Allocation Fund (DAK Fisik) was cut by 86 percent to IDR 5 trillion. For Bitung City, whose infrastructure for the Special Economic Zone relies on DAK, this compression sharpens a long-standing structural problem: reliable DAK ceiling information is unavailable when the Regional Government Work Plan (RKPD) must be finalised on 30 June, because the Presidential Regulation on detailed budget allocations is only issued between October and January. This study aims to identify the root causes of this planning-budgeting asymmetry and to formulate policy recommendations that are executable within the authority of the Bitung City Government. A qualitative policy analysis was applied, combining regulatory document study, the author's field observation of the 2023 to 2026 RKPD cycles, and literature on fiscal federalism. Problems were prioritised with the Urgency-Seriousness-Growth (USG) method, root causes traced through a two-level Why-Why analysis, and four policy alternatives evaluated with Bardach's criteria and cross-checked with Dunn's criteria. The results show that the problem is rooted in fragmented DAK planning-budgeting governance among central agencies, separated from regional planning supervision, which renders reference ceilings non-binding and unreliable. The study recommends a Mayoral Regulation on an Adaptive Planning Protocol comprising scenario-based RKPD preparation, a programme readiness portfolio, and a standard adjustment protocol, complemented by advocacy for a coordinated central planning-budgeting calendar. ]]>
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