Coimbatore: City corporation commissioner P Kumaravel Pandian on Friday presented the budget without announcing any new projects. However, for the fifth consecutive year, it projected a budget surplus.
As per the budget, the civic body is estimated to generate Rs 2,630.19 crore revenue in the 2021-22 financial year and spend Rs 2,629.14 crores, paving way for a budget surplus of Rs 1.04 crore.
From property tax, water supply and drainage tax and educational tax alone it is expected to generate Rs 180.31 crore. The city corporation has projected Rs 111.52 crore revenue from property tax, Rs 50.75 crore from water supply and drainage tax and Rs 18.04 crore from educational tax.
For the ongoing financial year, the corporation had proposed a surplus budget of Rs 1.14 crore, but as per the revised estimate there would be a budget deficit of Rs 60.87 crore, as the projected expenditure of Rs 1,513.22 crore overshoots the estimated revenue of Rs 1,452.35 crore.
The civic body had earlier projected a tax revenue of Rs 283.83 crore - Rs 170.78 crore from property tax, Rs 84.75 crore from water supply and drainage tax and Rs 28.30 crore from educational tax. But, according to the revised estimates, the corporation has pegged tax revenues at only Rs 160.88 crore - Rs 98.25 crore from property tax, Rs 46.56 crore from water supply and drainage tax and Rs 16.07 crore from educational tax.
The corporation has shown Rs 32.92 crore as Covid-19 expenditure in 2020-21 and set aside another Rs 9.80 crore for the same.
The civic body has also proposed to borrow about Rs 300 crore from the state government to implement drinking water projects and underground drainage projects in the added areas and Pillur III drinking water scheme. It also has plans to borrow another Rs 67.17 crore from the Housing and Urban Development Corporation and Rs 8.62 crore as Tamil Nadu urban road infrastructure fund from the World Bank.
The civic body would also spend Rs 134.33 crore on integrated bus stand at Vellalore, Rs 79.30 crore on restoring the Sanganoor canal, Rs 25 crore on model road project and Rs 197.13 crore on lake rejuvenation and beautification projects.