The civic bodys standing committee chairman Rahul Shewale presented the budget of approximately Rs26,581 crore for the year 2012-13 before the general body on Monday. Elected representatives to the 227-member general body of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will now discuss the budget until September 3 before giving its final endorsement for the estimates, said Mayor Sunil Prabhu.

The budget was presented before the standing committee by former civic chief Subodh Kumar on March. It was delayed due to the civic elections in February 2012.

Usually the standing committee approves the budget within a months time, but this year it kept shelving the budget proposals for nearly four months as the civic administration was not ready to approve additional development funds for corporators.

Earlier in the month, the standing committee unanimously passed the budget while making an internal transfer of Rs100 crore for works suggested by corporators. These included appointing a consultant for open spaces project, increasing corporator honorarium, additional Rs40 lakh fund for every corporator, and Android smartphones.

While many changes have been proposed in octroi plazas to increase revenue collection, the registration of all vehicles should be made mandatory to increase revenue, suggested standing committee chairman Rahul Shewale, adding that, Akin to developers charging higher with every floor of the skyscraper they build, the civic administration too should levy floor-wise property tax to boost revenue.

Further, Shewale recommended a rebate of up to 5% in property tax for the physically disabled, senior citizens, retired army men and to the housing societies that have implementing rainwater harvesting systems.