The civic body’s standing committee on Tuesday rejected the 11% hike in property tax proposed by commissioner Vikram Kumar in his draft municipal budget for 2021-22.
“It will not be appropriate to impose more tax on citizens diligently paying taxes. We have urged the civic administration to find new sources of income instead of putting the burden on the existing tax payers,” standing committee chairman Hemant Rasane
The commissioner’s budget of Rs7,650 crore was presented on January 29. Besides the public private partnership model, the budget was banking on Rs130 crore to be generated from the tax hike.
Committee rejects PMC’s property tax hike proposal
Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) data reveal that 10.5 lakh properties are in its property tax net. Around Rs1,200 crore is collected every year via property tax. But the revenue dropped drastically in 2020-2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The committee also told the civic administration to categorize suggestions and objections on widening 350 roads. Around 1,000 suggestions and objections have been submitted.
“We will categorize objections pertaining to every road slated for widening. The number of properties on each road and objections raised by the property owners on that respective road will be separated. The data will be made public. After the public hearings, only roads that citizens want widened, will be considered. We will not impose road widening against the will of residents,” said Rasane.
