Mumbai, Feb 8 (IANS): Faced with falling revenues through traditional channels, the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) proposes to undertake various steps to shore up income, including levy of fee on garbage and sewage disposal services.

The proposals are incorporated in the MCGM's Budget 2020-2021 of Rs 33,441 crore, compared with last year's Rs 30,692 crore, an increase of 8.95 per cent.

Municipal Commissioner Praveen Pardeshi said that the country's richest civic body would levy fees on garbage collection and sewerage "without increasing the current total property tax burden" on city residents, in order to boost its income.

Accordingly, water and sewerage charges will come under the head 'garbage, sewage and water fees' - a first for the 155-year-old civic body that caters to around 12.50 million people.

Last year, of the estimated water-sewage charges of Rs 1,459 crore, the MCGM netted Rs 911 crore. This year, under the 'garbage, sewage and water fees' head, it hopes to collect Rs 1,535 crore.

The MCGM will also issue notices, and resort to disconnection of water connections, attachment and auction of properties of commercial and industrial establishments, land etc for defaulters on property tax and water tax.

The MCGM attached 1,237 such properties in the past one year till January 2020, which saw an 84 per cent rise in the recovery of outstanding dues compared with the previous fiscal.

Compared with the 2019-2020 Budget estimates of property tax collection of Rs 5,016 crore, the civic body netted Rs 1,810 crore only. In the next fiscal, it expects to collect Rs 6,768 crore.

The MCGM is exploring other avenues for increased revenue, including regularisation of unauthorised flower beds, decks, lofts etc which are not part of the floor space index in residential and commercial premises. The MC proposes to levy a compounding fee of 15 per cent of ready reckoner value of unauthorized use of the FSI which will bring in additional revenue of Rs 600 crore.

The civic body will also hike certain charges/fees which have remained the same for 10-15 years, even though expenditure on these has gone up significantly. Now, fees for services like birth certificates, trade and market licences and others will be hiked by 5 per cent annually.

Besides, the Municipal Corporation will attempt to trim expenditure on salaries, which eats up around 50 per cent of its resources, compared with the acceptable norm of 35 per cent fixed by the Maharashtra government. There is also an additional burden of Rs 1,300 crore due to the VIIth Pay Commission recommendations' implementation for the civic body staff.

A freeze on filling up vacancies, including those arising from staff retirement, is expected to help it save Rs 250 crore.

An official said that the economic scenario, GST, dropping interest rates and other factors have contributed to the civic body's financial stress, but there is no cause for alarm.