Chennai corporation budget cuts revenue deficit, lays thrust on health & education
CHENNAI: Mayor R Priya presented the corporation budget on Wednesday, with a projected revenue deficit of Rs 262.5 crore, down from last year’s Rs 334.5 crore.
The civic body has been focusing on bringing down its revenue deficit over the last few years.
Speaking to TNIE, corporation commissioner J Radhakrishnan said that this year the corporation is focused on generating more revenue through advertisements and reassessment of underassessed properties.
With new infrastructure projects taking the backseat, the budget looks to focus on health and education. “There is a long-standing criticism that the corporation has not been focusing on health and education. So, this time, apart from improving health and education infrastructure, we are focused on providing a more comprehensive health and education services,” Radhakrishnan said.
The capital expenditure has decreased to Rs 3,140 crore from Rs 3,925 crore last year.
The budget estimates a property tax collection to the tune of Rs 1,750 crore which is Rs 70 crore higher than last year’s revised estimates.
Asked why property tax collection is set to remain more or less the same this year, a senior corporation official said that since the process of reassessment was still on, a more concrete estimate would be arrived at only at the end of reassessment.
“However, the possibilities of revenue surpassing the projections are high even by the end of this year,” he said.
The corporation maintained the same allocation as last year’s as far as Amma Unavagam’s are concerned, at Rs 78 crore. The civic body has allocated Rs 1,321 crore for stormwater drains this year against last year’s revised estimates of Rs 1,971 crore. The allocation for roads witnessed an increase by Rs 170 crore this year.
Bridges received a substantial allocation of Rs 268 crore against Rs 243 crore last year. Special projects also had an increased allocation with a total allocation of Rs 259 crore, which is Rs 106 crore more than last year.
Among the 82 budget announcements made last year, 32 have been completed and 35 are in various stages of progress; 15 are yet to take off. This year, the mayor made 82 new announcements in the budget.