MCG to increase its property tax target for 2020-21 fiscal

Gurugram: The Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) has decided to increase the annual target for property tax revenue substantially for the 2020-2021 fiscal,

Gurugram: The Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) has decided to increase the annual target for property tax revenue substantially for the 2020-2021 fiscal, officials on Saturday said, adding that the pending dues of the Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN) will be adjusted with the civic body’s electricity bill.

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The decision was taken during a meeting between councillors and senior officials of the MCG regarding the civic body’s draft budget for the 2020-2021 fiscal.

As per the MCG’s official website, the civic body has so far collected only ₹166.59 crore against its budgeted target of ₹250 crore for the current fiscal.

“Property tax is the biggest source of revenue for MCG, hence the target of collection of property tax has been increased in the budget of fiscal year 2020-21. The budget is the main guide to any public body and to improve it further, suggestions have also been taken from the citizens and the councillors. In this way, a better budget will be prepared by incorporating all the suggestions which will meet the expectations of the citizens,” said Vinay Pratap Singh, commissioner MCG.

Property tax is MCG’s main source of income. In the 2018-19 fiscal, MCG had a poor collection of just ₹196.34 crore even though it had set a budgeted target of ₹ 250 crore.

In the 2017-18 fiscal, MCG had collected ₹342.24 crore in property tax, which has been its highest tax collection.

As per MCG officials privy to the matter, for the next fiscal, the civic body is likely to set a target of ₹350 crore.

“Similar to our exercise in the 2017-18 fiscal, which fetched us a god amount of funds, we are looking at introducing multiple rebate schemes to enhance property tax revenue. In addition, the MCG has already prepared a list of defaulters who have property tax dues of more than ₹10 lakh. If these owners fail to pay their dues, we will auction their properties to recover our dues,” said an official privy to the matter.

According to the MCG, there are 197 building owners who owe the civic body more than ₹20 lakh in property tax dues each, and over 243 such owners who owe it between ₹10 lakh-20 lakh each. The MCG has issued notices to them and given them a month’s time to pay their dues.

Last month, a report of the directorate of Urban Local Bodies (ULB) revealed that the MCG has ₹350 crore dues in property taxes.

Another point raised during the meeting was that the MCG should adjust its electricity bills with the pending dues of the DHBVN.

The MCG pays ₹30 crore annually in electricity bills to DHBVN. DHBVN has pending dues amounting to ₹192 crore to the MCG, said the officials.

The councillors also disclosed that the issue of pending dues from other departments will also be taken up with chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar.

During the meeting, ward 34 councillor RS Rathee said that the MCG should issue municipal bonds on similar lines of the municipal bodies of Mysore and Pune that will help increase its revenue. In addition, Rathee also suggested that the MCG has more than 200 acres of land in the city and can generate revenue by leasing the same for developing commercial and low-cost housing projects.

The MCG officials said that both these proposals will be taken into consideration.