VIJAYAWADA: The Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) is planning to revise various taxes by around 10 per cent in the city. A proposal in this regard will be presented during the cash-starved civic body's special budget meeting for the fiscal year 2017-18 scheduled to be held at the VMC Council Hall here on Saturday.
The main source of income of the VMC is the tax collected from property owners in the city, apart from other sources like a vacant land tax, water and sewage charges, advertising revenue, fees collected for car parking and mobile phone towers. The VMC's empowered standing committee under the leadership of city mayor Koneru Sreedhar approved the tax revision proposal to be included in the special budget in a meeting on February 6.
For the third time, the corporation has got a `1,000-plus-crore budget after the TDP-ruled council came to power. In the earlier budget sessions for the year 2016-17, the VMC council had cited its income as Rs 777.49 crores and Rs 760.46 crores as expenditure, leaving the remaining Rs 17.2 crores as the closing balance for the year.
In all, the VMC prepared the budget for the year 2017-18 with Rs 1,327.64 crores as income and Rs 1,280.26 crores as expenditure. The closing balance for this year is estimated to be Rs 47.38 crores.
The civic body’s decision to revise taxes has irked the Opposition YSRCP and civic associations in the city. Moreover, the ruling TDP leaders are likely to face stiff opposition from YSRC corporators who pointed out that the TDP had promised not to hike the taxes during the civic body polls.
On Friday, YSRC floor leader in VMC B Punyaseela took a dig at the civic body for its inefficiency in getting Rs 162-crore pending funds from the State and Central governments which include Krishna Pushkaralu and JNNURM grants.
Till date, there is no intimation from the government on the issue and the corporation has been paying crores of rupees in interests to various banks, she alleged.