Lawmakers face cuts in pay and expenses
Lawmakers - whose salaries are adjusted in line with consumer prices - are likely to face a pay cut of up to two per cent from October.
The Finance Bureau has warned the Legco Secretariat of the likely cuts in members' pay and expenses.
A lawmaker currently receives $63,870 a month in pay and up to $118,120 in allowances for transport, entertainment and office costs.
Last night a Finance Bureau spokeswoman said there was no room to deviate from the four-year-old formula endorsed by the Finance Committee.
According to the formula, pay and expenses are adjusted to match the movement of the composite consumer price index.
After a record fall in prices last month, the index recorded a year-on-year decrease of 5.5 per cent.
'We have no power to decide whether to follow it or not,' the spokeswoman said, adding that the Secretary for the Treasury, Denise Yue Chung-yee, was simply acting under the authority delegated to her by the lawmaking body.
Professor Lau Siu-kai, who sits on the independent commission on lawmakers' pay, did not believe the Government's hands were tied. He said the administration could still freeze pay and allowances.
'The question the Government has to ponder is whether it wants to see members gaining political credit by the pay cut,' Professor Lau said, noting that civil servants and public sector employees all faced pay freezes rather than pay cuts.
Fred Li Wah-ming of the Democratic Party, which has 13 members in the legislature, said he had no quarrel with the possible pay cut but hoped that the Government would freeze allowances.
'We need to keep our staff by giving higher salaries,' he said.
Ho Sai-chu of the Liberal Party, which has 10 members in the legislature, said his group had no problem with the potential reduction in pay and allowances.
'The Liberal Party is not so nervous about it. In fact, last year we insisted on not accepting the pay rise and received only $60,830 a month,' he said. Members from the Democratic Party take the same amount.
