The budget presented by the Mysore City Corporation (MCC) for 2015–16 on Monday expects revenue of Rs. 699.33 crore, which is less by Rs. 4.13 crore than last year’s projected revenue.
As usual, a key portion of the income had been envisaged from property tax and khata transfers, which is around Rs. 142.5 crore.
With an opening balance of Rs. 154.08 crore and a projected earning of Rs. 699.33 crore, the corporation has presented a Rs. 853.42-crore budget for 2015–16, with total expenditure of Rs. 848.86 crore. This projects a surplus budget of Rs. 4.56 crore.
Haseen Taj, Chairperson, Standing Committee on Taxation, Finance and Appeals, who presented the budget, said a target had been set to collect Rs. 40 crore and Rs. 15 crore as water tax and UGD cess, respectively.
Also, Rs 10.74 crore had been projected from other sources like building licence fee, road digging fee, new water connections, completion reports (CRs), penalties, and so on.
The corporation was awaiting funds of Rs. 78 crore in 2015–16 from the State government towards payment of electricity bills of streetlights and drinking water treatment plants.
Ms. Taj said Rs. 85 crore was awaited under the second and third stages of Chief Minister’s Nagarothana scheme, Rs. 35 crore for infrastructure development and Rs. 35 crore for restoration of heritage properties, improvement of Dasara procession route and Irwin Road, and for installing the statue of Sri Jayachamaraja Wadiyar.
With its vision of turning Mysuru into a ‘slum-free city’, the corporation was expecting a grant of Rs. 5.58 crore. Ms. Taj said Rs. 6 crore would be generated by issuing/renewing trade licences, in addition to a revenue of Rs. 10 crore from rental fee of its properties — shopping complexes and shops in markets — and Rs. 2.1 crore from the land leased to a shopping mall near K.R. Circle. It appears that the corporation has not paid attention to boost its earning from advertisement tax and leasing out its land for putting up advertisements. For a city like Mysuru, which is reckoned to be the second most fastest growing in the State, a paltry sum of Rs. 2 crore has been projected — though agencies bagging the contract of corporation space are minting money by leasing out the space to advertisers.
