A budget expected to be over ₹10,000 crore will be presented by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) on Monday. Former deputy mayor and JDS councillor S.P. Hemalatha, now chairperson of the Standing Committee on Taxation and Finance, will present the budget.
The 2018-19 budget was pegged at ₹9,325.55 crore.
The budget, being billed as an ‘election budget’ in the runup to the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, will focus on the urban poor, said Ms. Hemalatha. “The chief minister has presented a holistic budget for the city that not only focuses on infrastructure but also on the urban poor. The BBMP budget will also be on the same lines,” she said.
The budget is expected to be over ₹10,000 crore, sources in the civic body said, pointing out that the draft submitted by the administration mentions ₹8,800 crore.
The recently presented State budget has approved a special grant of ₹8,015 crore for BBMP over three years, of which the civic body will receive ₹2,300 crore for 2019-20.
BBMP Commissioner N. Manjunath Prasad hoped that the budget will be a realistic one as anything else will only accentuate the fiscal problems of the civic body. He said his proposal to bring BBMP under the ambit of Karnataka Local Fund Authorities and Fiscal Responsibility Act, 2003 to ensure better financial discipline, is pending before the State government.
As against a target of ₹3,226.25 crore for property tax for the year 2018-19, the civic body has till date only been able to collect ₹2,350 crore, which includes arrears collected.
Ms. Hemalatha expressed confidence that they will reach the tax collection target by March 31. She added that the property tax target for the upcoming fiscal is much higher.