With NMC property tax department registering just an average performance and recovering Rs 186 crore, municipal commissioner Shyam Wardhane has decided to divide the functions of assessment and recovery.

Sources said this was administration plan to focus more on two main sources of revenue - LBT and property tax. They said the tax department had a potential to earn up mto Rs 400 crore but had not even touched half that. Dividing the functions of assessment and recovery would lead to faster assessments and better recovery, they claimed. At present, the same people in the department carry out both the functions. In this arrangement, the possibility of under assessment and recovery cannot be ruled out.

Even though number of properties in the city had increased manifold, the tax earnings had not kept pace. Recently, Wardhane suspended a tax inspector and two collectors over poor performance in terms of recovery. Notices were also served to 14 other tax collectors for under performance. A senior official told TOI the administration had started preparing the proposal to bifurcate the functions and it would be tabled before the general body meeting.

The official said additional municipal commissioner Hemant Pawar had also stressed on the need for transfers of under performing staffers of the property tax department. Sources said the civic chief had also indicated stern action against assistant municipal commissioners whose zones perform poorly in property tax recovery.