The estimated revenue for 1999-2000 is Rs 2610.10 crore, Rs 900 crore more than last year's budget. Statistics of the last three years' revenue estimates show an increase at the rate of nearly 20 per cent every year. But compared to last year's revenue, there is a whopping 50 per cent increase this time in the revenue estimates. This is significant because no new taxes have been proposed, nor has any increase in existing ones. Last year, the BMC collected Rs 251 crore by enforcing new taxes.

It is only thanks to this inflated revenue estimate that BMC has covered the Rs 614 crore deficit it faced last year and managed to present a Rs 4 lakh surplus budget, a must under the BMC Act.

However, no MiC member could explain how BMC would be able to meet the target. Making the budget public at a press meet, MayorNandu Satam said the estate department will be the major source of income. He informed the new format of charging property tax, under preparation, will be sent to the state government for approval. He noted that as a large number of people do not pay taxes, the administration will now focus on this part of revenue seriously. Another vital point, he said, was that a large number of people paid taxes for residential purposes while using their premises for commercial purposes.

According to Satam, the process of acquiring properties will also be speeded up. This will bring additional income to BMC. Another source of income is the transfer fee under the Vacant Land Tenancy (VLT). And then, of course, the Mayor is hoping to collect another Rs 60 crore by regularising mezzanine floors, provided the state government gives its nod.

Still, this will hardly make up for the additional Rs 900 the MiC is expecting. The new property structure will at the most fetch Rs 300 crore. Some increase is expected from the octroidepartment, as the Mayor has taken charge of it and is paying personal attention by forming a vigilance squad. Chairperson of revenue department Ram Mhatre added some additional revenue is expected from pending legal cases dragging on for years. ``Sometimes, the opposite party prefers an out-of-court settlement. We will stress on this aspect,'' he informed. But this will generate only Rs 40 crore. The MiC also announced suspension of construction of new cement concrete (CC) roads and desilting of storm water drains during monsoon through private contractors. ``We will use the conventional method of tarring roads and our staff will desilt drains this time,'' Satam said. This together will save about Rs 80 crore.

The new budget, however, has a provision of Rs 8 crore for construction of an office building with modern equipments for the Mulund-Airoli link road octroi naka.