Presenting to the civic Standing Committee a budget with estimated outlays worth Rs 16,792 crore for the year 2008-09, Municipal Commissioner Dr Jairaj Phatak said the administration had conducted some nifty budgeting plans to avoid levying any additional taxes or increasing existing ones. While the proposed outlays are up by more than 10 per cent as compared to last year, the commissioner said the administration had explored the potential of the BMC’s special funds to avoid burdening the citizens.

Additional Municipal Commissioner (Projects) Manu Kumar Srivastava said a review of various funds maintained by the BMC had been completed.

“We did a review of these special funds for which money is earmarked every year. This has been transferred to the capital account. If we (BMC) have enough money for expenditure, then why levy extra takes on citizens?'” he said.

The expenditure on capital works for 2008-09 is proposed to be increased by 50 per cent over last year. While half this increased expenditure is proposed to be funded through greater estimated revenues, the remaining is to come through tapping these special funds.

The withdrawal from special funds into capital accounts is Rs 2,011 crore, amounting to 12 per cent of the total budget.

These include Assets Replacement Fund (Rs 1,324 crore), Land Acquisition and Development Fund (Rs 214 crore), Primary School Building Maintenance Fund (Rs 160 crore), Primary School Building Construction Fund (Rs 90 lakh) and Asset Replacement and Rehabilitation Fund (Rs 311 crore).

Srivastava added that it was for the first time that the civic administration is proposing to tap the potential of these funds and use them for the benefit of citizens.

How The Cookie Crumbles
As always, a major chunk of this year’s (2007-08, calculated until January) revenue has come from octroi collections, which saw a 16 per cent rise as against last year’s collection for the same period. The improved collections are owing to a spate of reforms and surprise raids at the octroi check-posts.

On an average, the increase in octroi collection is about 12 per cent to 13 per cent every year.

Between April 2007 and January 2008, the BMC has raked in Rs 3,413 crore from octroi collections, a sum expected to rise to Rs 4,000 crore by the end of the present financial year