City Hall in the red despite assessment hike

The Kuala Lumpur City Hall will have deficit of RM292.7 million next year despite a 28% increase in revenue from higher assessment rates, said its mayor while unveiling the local authority’s budget today.

Datuk Ahmad Phesal Talib (pic) had said that more allocations were made for road infrastructure projects and the city expects its total expenditure to be at RM2.79 billion, an increase of 20% from this year.

City Hall had expected to see a 36% increase or RM1.2 billion in revenue from the assessment rate hike brought about by the new property valuation done by its officers.

However, after the public protests over the excessive hike, City Hall decided to reduce the rate from 6% to 4%. Assessment rates make up more than half of City Hall's revenue. The last assessment rate hike was 21 years ago.