Kolhapur: The civic administration is Rs 140 crore short of the target revenue collection that it had set to recover through taxes for the fiscal 2018-19.Kolhapur Municipal Corporation (KMC) could rake in Rs 296 crore by Sunday evening, the last day of the financial year, of the Rs 436 crore that it aimed to recover in the fiscal 2018-19 i.e. it has recovered 67.88% of its set target. department is reported to have the highest shortfall. Of the Rs 67 crore that it had targeted, the town planning department could rake in only Rs 36 crore. Officials attribute the dip in the revenue to the decline in the number of building proposals.The officials said that the new building rules made it difficult for the developers to take up new projects and that the demand to change the rules was pending with the government. In 2016-17, the town planning department recorded a net collection of over Rs 70 crore since hundreds of building plans were cleared just ahead of the implementation of the new building rules.The property tax department too reported a shortfall in its revenue. Though the initial target was Rs 76 crore, the target was revised and the department could generate Rs 58 crore at the end of the fiscal. The department had hoped that several new properties would come under the tax net which would help increase the revenue. However, the drive to track untaxed properties has not yet ended and the new properties, searched so far, have not been registered for property tax.A senior civic official said, “The actual picture of revenue collection will be clear in the next two days as the transfer of dues from government offices and grants is yet to be cleared. We have launched concession schemes for water tax and property tax due to which the revenue collection has shot up significantly on both these fronts as compared to last year. We have collected Rs 50.57 crore through water tax as against the target of Rs 54.40 crore. We have been assured by the government departments that they will clear the dues. We have already received Rs 3 crore water tax dues from the police.”Owing to the decline in revenue collection, KMC will have to depend heavily on the government grants. Around 65% of the revenue is spent on salaries and management of the civic body, thereby resulting in a cash crunch for carrying out the civic works.According to civic officials, the budget for the financial year 2019-20 has already estimated less expenditure on capital works which means the civic authorities may cut down on development works.

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