Lawmakers will get a 10 per cent pay rise and more operating expenses in the new legislative term that starts in October. It comes after the Executive Council's adoption of the recommendation of an independent commission.
The pay rise will lift lawmakers' monthly salary from HK$73,150 to HK$80,465. That is little more than half the amount they would have received had a controversial proposal by a Legislative Council subcommittee been adopted.
In addition, lawmakers' annual budget for operating costs - for staff salaries and office rents - will rise from about HK$1.7 million to HK$2 million.
The wage increase has yet to be approved by Legco's Finance Committee, but its chairwoman, Emily Lau Wai-hing, said she expected it to be passed.
The recommendation came after a heated debate last month when the Legco subcommittee proposed pegging lawmakers' wages to about half the pay of ministers, meaning they would have received about HK$141,000 a month.
But the proposal backfired amid public discontent with lawmakers' performance and a debate on whether directly elected and functional constituency lawmakers should be paid the same.
Lau had written to the government asking for a mechanism to decide lawmakers' pay, as they were also split on whether their pay should be linked to that of heads of government bureaus.
