The 15th Finance Commission headed by Chairman, Shri N.K. Singh alongwith its Members and senior officials today met with the representatives of the Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) of Goa today.

The Commission was informed that:

Out of the 18 functions envisaged in Twelfth Schedule of the Constitution, 10 functions have been devolved to ULBs.  Further, Out of the 10 devolved functions, (i) Roads and Bridges and (ii) Public Health, Sanitation conservancy and solid waste management have been partially devolved.

Accounts of the ULBs are maintained and audited upto 2016-17.

Number of local bodies (2018) at each level of ULBs is as below:

ULBs	Number of Local Bodies
Municipal Corporation	01 (Panaji)
Municipalities	13
Total	14

First State Finance Commission was constituted in 1999 and Government of Goa had accepted its recommendations in November, 2001.

Second State Finance Commission has submitted its report in December, 2007, but Government has not accepted the recommendations of the Second State Finance Commission.

Third State Finance Commission was constituted in January, 2017 (10 years after submission of report of the Second Finance Commission) and has not submitted the report after completion of three years.

Recommendations of 14th Finance Commission:

Grants recommended by 14th Finance Commission to Urban Local Body ₹ 220 crore (₹ 176 crore Basic Grant and ₹ 44 crore Performance Grant).  Out of ₹ 176 crore (Basic Grant), Goa has received only ₹ 104 crore by the end of 31st March, 2019. (59% of the basic grant recommended by 14th Finance Commission).

Out of ₹ 44 crore Performance Grant, Goa has received only ₹ 8.62 crore in 2016-17 (First year of performance Grant). (20% of the grant recommended by 14th Finance Commission).

The 15th Finance Commission has sought the reason(s) for not accepting the recommendations of 2nd SFC. The Commission also wanted to know why the submission of report of Third State Finance Commission is awaited even after three years of its constitution and whether ULBs have suffered any loss of revenue due to subsuming of advertisement & entertainment tax, unless levied by local bodies, in GST. The Commission wanted to know, if any, compensatory mechanism was provided to ULBs to meet the revenue shortfall due to such subsuming.   

Representatives of Urban Local Bodies present at the meeting were:-  Shri Uday V. Madkaikar, Mayor, Corporation of City of Panaji, Shri Rayn Braganza, Chairperson, Mapusa Municipal Council, Shri Rajaram A. Gaonkar, Chairperson, Bicholim Municipal Council, Shri Akhtar Ali Shah, Chairperson, Valpoi Municipal Council, Smt. Nitu Sameer Dessai, Chairperson, Canacona Municipal Council, Smt. PanzyCoutinho, Chairperson, Cuncolim Municipal Council and Shri Nandadeep M. Raut, Chairperson, Mormugao Municipal Council.

The Commission has noted all the issues raised by the representatives and has assured to address them in the recommendations to the Union Government.

Devolution of functions and grant shortfalls scrutinized for urban local bodies after partial transfers and tax subsumption. The Fifteenth Finance Commission met Goa ULB representatives to examine partial devolution of certain Twelfth Schedule functions, the status of ULB accounts and State Finance Commission reports, shortfalls in grant receipts against prior Finance Commission recommendations, and potential revenue losses to ULBs from the subsuming of local taxes into GST and whether compensatory mechanisms exist.