The Hindu 13.02.2013
Rs. 2.45 crore surplus budget for HDMC
Staff Correspondent
Proposal to bring all properties under tax net, no new taxes.
The Hubli-Dharwad Municipal Corporation budget for
2013-14 expects revenue of Rs. 310.02 crore, including receipts in the
extraordinary accounts, against an expenditure of Rs. 307.57 crore,
leaving it with a surplus of Rs. 2.45 crore.
The
budget was tabled in the HDMC council on Tuesday by Chairman of the
Standing Committee on Tax Fixation, Finance and Appeals Shivu Hiremath,
following a delay due to protests by the Opposition Congress.
Keeping
an eye on the forthcoming elections to urban local bodies, the budget
has not proposed new taxes. It mentions measures to bring all properties
under the tax net as well as collect pending water dues.
The
revenue receipts and the capital receipts added to the opening balance
come to Rs. 265.62 crore and the revenue and capital payments come to
Rs. 265.61 crore.
Mr. Hiremath said that while revenue receipts stood at Rs. 245.1 crore, revenue expenditure amounted to Rs. 174.45 crore.
He
said that while capital receipts were expected to be around Rs. 2.5
crore, capital expenditure was around Rs. 9.11 crore. He said that the
Rs. 88.66-crore deficit in the capital account would be adjusted against
the opening balance of Rs. 18.01 crore and the surplus of Rs. 70.65
crore in the revenue account.
“As a result, without
imposing any fresh tax, we have been able to manage the deficit. We are
expecting receipts of Rs. 4.44 crore in the extraordinary accounts and
an expenditure of Rs. 4.19 crore. That leaves us with a Rs. 2.45-crore
surplus budget,” he said.
Taxes
As
per the budget the corporation is expecting revenue of Rs. 39.75 crore
from property tax, Rs. 1.38 crore from advertisement tax, Rs. 19.54
crore from town planning programmes, Rs. 1.15 crore from road cutting
charges, Rs. 4.18 crore from rent and stallage from HDMC commercial
complexes.
The corporation is also expecting Rs. 16.
45 crore from the State Finance Commission grant and Rs. 13.75 crore
from the 13th Finance Commission grant.
Expenditure
The
corporation will be spending the largest chunk, Rs. 78.15 crore, on
governance and human resources. A sum of Rs. 22.62 crore has been set
aside for road development and repair.
Reading out
the budget speech, Mr. Hiremath said that the corporation planned to
bring all properties in the twin cities under the tax net. “Strict
measures will also be taken to collect all the tax dues in 2013-14,” he
said.
Mr. Hiremath said that the corporation would
implement the town planning programme strictly by making building
permission compulsory and as well as making some modifications in the
building bylaws.
Considering the lack of public
toilets in the twin cities, especially in market areas, the corporation
had set aside Rs. 1 crore for construction of public toilets, he said.
He
said that for the golden jubilee celebrations of the HDMC, Rs. 25 lakh
had been set aside and Rs. 55 lakh had been earmarked for various sports
and cultural programmes throughout the year. For the annual Dharwad
Utsav, the corporation had set aside Rs. 25 lakh, he said.
Arogya Raksha scheme
Mr.
Hiremath said that Rs. 2 crore had been set aside for the Arogya Raksha
scheme, under which pourakarmikas(permanent employees) were eligible to
get free medical care in empanelled hospitals. A sum of Rs. 1.2crore
had been earmarked for providing housing loans to 20 permanent employees
of the municipal corporation during 2013-14.
Development of villages
He
said that Rs. 1 crore had been set aside for development of villages in
the jurisdiction of the corporation and Rs. 1.5 crore had been
earmarked for providing basic amenities in HDMC commercial complexes.
Mr.
Hiremath said that the corporation had set aside Rs. 25.8crores for
solid waste management in the twin cities where nearly 400 tonnes of
solid waste was generated every day.
