Coimbatore corporation councillors oppose bid to hike property tax by 6% from Oct 1

Coimbatore: Corporation councillors opposed the move to hike the property tax by 6% from October 1 at the monthly council meeting on Wednesday. They also opposed the bid to award the contract for the maintenance of three crematoriums in the city to Isha Foundation.The meeting that was held at Victoria Hall was presided over by mayor K Ranganayaki, deputy mayor R Vetriselvan and corporation commissioner M Sivaguru Prabakaran. As soon as the meeting began, several councillors, including those from the DMK allies (CPI, CPM) and opposition parties, opposed the civic body's move to implement 6% hike in the property tax from October 1. The state govt had increased the property tax for all buildings, be it residential or commercial, in 2022. The tax was increased by up to 100%, drawing flak from everyone. The hike was implemented by passing a resolution that also allowed the local body to increase the property tax by 6% every year.However, the tax wasn't increased in the 2023-24 fiscal in view of parliamentary elections. Hence, the city corporation decided to implement the 6% hike from October 1. Councillors, including V Ramamoorthy (CPM), C Shanthi (CPI) and R Prabhakaran (AIADMK), opposed the move and requested the civic body to reconsider its decision, as the hike was a huge burden on the people. The mayor and the commissioner, citing govt orders, refused to revoke the same.Councillors also opposed the resolution to award the contract for the maintenance of three crematoriums in the city to Isha Foundation. The resolution was subsequently put on hold. Similarly, resolutions regarding the park and toilet maintenance work across the city were also put on hold by the council.At least 86 resolutions were tabled at the meeting and 83 of them were passed. In a resolution, the corporation said it was planning to resurvey the accumulated waste at Vellalore dump yard to bring down the biomining project cost, as a recent fire had significantly reduced the amount of waste. The state govt had earlier allocated Rs58.54 crore to process 7.43 lakh metric tonnes of legacy waste through the biomining project. The corporation commissioner said Anna University would conduct a survey to measure the exact amount of waste.