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The Finance Committee (FC) of the Legislative Council has approved the proposals to enhance District Council (DC) members' remuneration package by increasing members' monthly honorarium and providing a new provision for duty visits. The proposals will be implemented in the next DC term starting January 2016.
The monthly honorarium for DC members will be increased by 15 per cent in real terms from $25,760 to $29,620 at the 2015 price level. The monthly honorarium for the DC Chairmen and Vice Chairmen will be increased to $59,240 and $44,430 respectively. As with the current practice, the revised honorarium will be subject to annual adjustments in accordance with the movement of Consumer Price Index (A) each year.
"DCs have been playing a unique and important role in district administration. They have been increasingly invited by the Government and various relevant authorities to advise on the planning and implementation of public policies and programmes affecting the well-being of the community," a spokesman for the Home Affairs Department (HAD) said.
"The responsibilities of DCs and DC members are expected to further increase in the coming years. The increase in the honorarium for DC members will better enable them to deliver their enhanced role and responsibilities. It will also be conducive to attracting talents from different sectors and all walks of life who wish to serve the public as DC members," he added.
The introduction of a new provision for duty visits is to enable DC members to visit authorities and institutions outside Hong Kong, and exchange views with their counterparts in handling district matters so as to enhance the quality of district administration.
"Each DC member will have up to $10,000 per term to cover expenses incurred in duty visits. All those visits must be related to DC work and endorsed by the DC in advance," the spokesman said.
Meanwhile, the FC also endorsed the proposal of expanding the remit of the accountable Operating Expenses Reimbursement (OER) to cover procurement of furniture and equipment and associated repair and maintenance costs while keeping the entitlement ceiling of OER unchanged. The expansion will allow additional flexibility for DC members to deploy their OER resources to meet operational needs.
"Following the completion of the mid-term review in 2013, the OER has increased by 34 per cent in real terms with effect from January 1, 2014. We considered that the current levels of OER and other components of the remuneration package for DC members, including Miscellaneous Expenses Allowance, Medical Allowance, end-of-term Gratuity, Entertainment Expenses Reimbursement for DC Chairmen and the Setting-up and Winding-up Expenses Reimbursements, generally appropriate and their present levels should be maintained and will continue to apply to the fifth-term DCs," the spokesman said.
It is the Government's established practice to review the remuneration package for DC members and announce the new package before the commencement of the next DC term, so that potential candidates are aware of the package before deciding whether to run in the election.
Ends/Friday, July 10, 2015
Issued at HKT 14:55
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