Various suggestions on mopping up revenues aired at pre-budget meeting chaired by Mayor Shivakumar
Mysore/Mysuru: The Mysuru City Corporation’s (MCC) pre-budget meeting held at the Old Council Hall under the Chairmanship of Mayor Shivakumar yesterday saw former Mayors, ex-Corporators and office-bearers of various trade and other commercial bodies coming up with several suggestions on tax structure, revenue collection and other civic issues that need urgent financing.
The overall message of the meeting to the MCC was to increase its revenues and carry out the civic work in a comprehensive manner and be less dependent on the State Government for funds.
Former Mayor P. Vishwanath suggested that the MCC must identify the sources of revenue while planning projects for the city. Most of the projects announced in the budget every year do not see the light of the day due to lack of funds.
“The Mayor and the Commissioner must go on city rounds from 6.30 am to 8.30 am every day to supervise the works that are being undertaken and this visit will give them a fair idea on how the works are being undertaken. The quality of the works can be examined and corrective measures can be taken up if the quality is compromised,” he said.
He suggested the Mayor to order the development of apps like the Swachhata App to solve the road and drainage problems where citizens can upload photos and text on the app seeking remedial measures.
Paltry rent on properties
Uday Kumar of Contractors Association drew the attention of the meeting and said that the MCC must raise rents on its properties. Properties that have been given on low rent to the tenants are handed over to others for more rent and many tenants are making huge profits — Devaraja Market for example where tenants have sub-rented the shops for higher rents after obtaining them for cheap rents from the MCC.
Also, many corner buildings and commercial complexes across the city have given faulty measurements of their building width to escape taxes. Each building, especially the corner ones and those standing on a vast area must be re-measured and the tax rates have to be fixed accordingly, he said.
Observing that most of the stalls in Devaraja Market have been rented out by original allottees, he opined that MCC had failed in securing its properties.
Proper property audit
Former Mayor Sandesh Swamy suggested a proper audit of the exact number of commercial complexes, residential houses and vacant sites within the MCC limits to prevent revenue pilferage. Taxes must be levied from revenue layouts as most of the areas have been excluded from the tax ambit though the MCC was providing civic facilities to the residents, he noted.
Former Mayor Purushotham alleged that the MCC Zonal Offices have become a centre for corruption as the public have to pay bribes even to avail a small service. He also suggested to bring all the revenue layouts in the tax bracket and levy double tax. He said it is important to collect property tax in revenue layouts as this will help in augmentation of revenues. He stressed on the need for ending confusions over online tax payment system and eliminating glitches.
Former Deputy Mayor Mahadevamma urged the authorities to issue Khata for the property ownership to the residents of Kurubarahalli Survey Numbers and also sanction plan approval. There is a need to clean up the many vacant sites in the area.
‘A-Khata’ and ‘B-Khata’
Former Mayor B.L. Bhyrappa urged the MCC to follow the Bengaluru model where the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has the system of ‘A Register’ and ‘B Register’ (A-Khata and B-Khata) for properties within Bengaluru city limits and for properties beyond the city limits.
The ‘B-Khata’ property tax will be applicable for properties that do not fall under the jurisdiction of MCC. These properties did not pay taxes despite enjoying all civic amenities from MCC. The ‘A-Khata’ and ‘B-Khata’ certify the ownership of a property for tax purposes. While the ‘A-Khata’ lists legal properties, ‘B-Khata’ lists illegal/ semi-legal properties, he noted.
Former Mayors B.K. Prakash, Ayub Khan, Arif Hussain; former Deputy Mayors Shanthakumari and Pushpavalli, too gave their suggestions on revenue collection. Deputy Mayor Dr. G. Roopa, MCC Commissioner G. Lakshmikantha Reddy, Officers Roopa, M.K. Savitha, Mahesh and Suvarna were present.
This post was published on December 20, 2022 6:43 pm