In a desperate bid to replenish its dwindling funds, the Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation (MBMC) has geared up to print and dispatch property tax bills to citizens. Due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic the civic administration is also mooting the idea of adopting an online medium to issue the property tax bills for the current fiscal.
However, the ruling governance and the civic administration were yet to reach a consensus on the vexed issue of offering discounts to taxpayers in the current economic crisis.
Moreover, the fate of general body meetings in which members decide on allowing rebates or finalizing discounts continues to hang in balance. Political parties have demanded relaxations and even waiving off taxes to ease the woes of citizens. “Our billing process is on. Apart from exploring digitized options to issue bills and accept payments via online platforms, we are also mooting the idea of launching mobile bill collection vans in association with banking institutions.” said civic chief C.K. Dange.
Property tax collections amounting Rs.216 crore including open land tax, outstanding and recovery through penal tax continue to occupy a lion’s share in the civic ledger.
However, since the imposition of the lockdown, the property tax collection has remained stagnant at around 65 percent. As per statistics, the assessed number of properties in the twin-city is pegged at around 3. 48 lakh including commercial, industrial and residential units. This year the MBMC has projected property tax collections amounting 235 crore.
With revenue generation hitting rock bottom owing to the nationwide lockdown imposed to contain the spread of the, MBMC is staring at a huge financial crisis with its coffers set to get near-empty next month.
