Donald Tsang Yam-kuen and his team of political appointees will try to avoid controversy by not restoring their salaries to their 2009 levels, even though senior civil servants have been offered a 7.2 per cent pay rise from July, according to a government source.
Tsang and other appointees took voluntary pay cuts in June 2009 at the height of the financial crisis to demonstrate their willingness to share the community's pain.
A government source said appointees had exchanged views among themselves on whether they should restore their salaries after civil servants were granted pay rises in June, but decided against it.
Civil servants in the upper salary band have been offered a 7.24 per cent pay rise, which took effect in July.
'Restoration of appointees' salaries to pre-pay-cut levels would unavoidably create political troubles for the government, given the current political climate,' the source said.
A government spokesman confirmed that the political team had no plan to readjust their salaries.
In June 2009, Tsang and 33 political appointees took a voluntary pay cut of 5.38 per cent from the next month of that year, in a show of solidarity with Hongkongers who were riding out the global financial crisis.