Tamil Nadu Urban Infrastructure Financial Services ... - Municipal

8. Initiate formal and independent Information Systems and Security Audits, given the
implemented and ongoing e-governance initiatives of ULBs in Tamil Nadu –
ULBs should be required to establish the practices of an independent system audit to be
conducted annually. This would enable ULBs to establish greater accountability and build in
robust processes for disaster recovery and security of the IT architecture of the ULB
9. Facilitate creation of a formal institutional mechanism to manage functional overlaps
among nodal agencies/state level agencies and the ULB – As described earlier in section 5.4 –
role of other agencies, ULBs shares responsibility for a number of service delivery areas with
other agencies/departments of the state including Department of Town Planning, Department of
Highway, Tamil Nadu Electricity Board, Tamil Nadu Water and Drainage Board, Road Transport
Corporations etc.
In order to overcome the limitations of these overlaps and to enable operation of these
various organs of the state in a coordinated manner, each ULB should be mandated to
facilitate creation of a formal steering committee at the city level comprising of 8-10
officials from all government departments/agencies. This committee could meet regularly
(once every 2-3 months) to discuss and share information on respective projects/areas and
could pave the way for better communication and effective service delivery.
9.3 Suggestions for improving financial performance and collection efficiency
Overall income of Krish- M grew at a -0.5 % CAGR, driven largely by significant growth in Water
and Other service charges income. Own income of the municipality grew at a moderate 5 %, while
expenditure actually declined during the period at a CAGR of 8% due to a steep decline in
Administrative expenses and finance expenditure. However, this presents only part of the picture.
Current collection efficiencies in property tax and water user charges are abysmally low at an average
61% and 66% respectively.
Krish- M‟s ability to improve on its financial performance hinges primarily on its ability to sustain
and improve on the revenue growth noticeable in recent years. While there is potential for expenditure
control in certain areas (as in the case of energy costs), the focus of cost management should be to
shift expenditure from administration to better asset management and O&M. The following
paragraphs outline select interventions for improvement of financial and operating performance.
9.3.1 Revenue enhancement
Property tax
Specific recommendations for improving property tax revenue and collections are detailed below.
Recommendations in bold are actions that can be implemented immediately by the municipality
without any significant investment and can enable the municipality to show immediate results
CCP cum BP - Krishnagiri Municipality 78