CONSTITUTION AND ADMINISTRATION
The council comprises 50 appointed councillors. It holds formal public meetings once a month to pass by-laws and deal with financial matters, formal motions and questions on its activities.
The Standing Committee of the Whole Council meets twice monthly to conduct the council's routine business, while its 14 select committees, generally meet at least once a month. There are also more than 30 subcommittees and working groups which handle specific issues. All council meetings are open to the public, except for sensitive items which must be discussed in private.
The Director of Urban Services is the council's chief executive, as well as the head of the Urban Services Department. The department is the largest civilian department within the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government structure with a staff of about 17 000. The responsibilities of the director include directing and forward planning for all aspects of the department's work, as well as formulating policy proposals for consideration by the Provisional Urban Council. The agreed policies are then implemented by the department as the executive arm of the council. The council is financially autonomous and spent $6.785 billion on recurrent activities and capital works projects in 1996-97. A share of the rates forms about 80 per cent of the council's income, with the balance coming from licence fees and other charges.
The council has ward offices throughout the urban areas, where councillors meet the public and advise on a wide variety of matters. Urban residents may also make their views known through the Members' Duty Roster System, whereby councillors are placed on a duty roster to meet the public, by appointment, twice a week.
Provisional Regional Council
The Provisional Regional Council is responsible for environmental hygiene, public health, sanitation, liquor licensing and the provision of recreational, sports and cultural facilities and services for about 3.05 million people in the New Territories.
The council consists of 50 members. The council's chairman and vice-chairman are elected by members from among themselves.
Council policies are implemented by its executive arm, the Regional Services Department, which has a staff of about 11 000 headed by the Director of Regional Services. The council is financially autonomous, with its main source of revenue being rates collected in the council area. In 1996-97, this provided about 85 per cent of total revenue. The rest comes from fees and charges, and rental income (mostly from market stalls). In 1996-97, total revenue was $4.37 billion, while total expenditure stood at $4.86 billion.
The council discharges its responsibilities through five functional select committees and a Liquor Licensing Board. The five select committees are responsible for finance and administration, capital works, environmental hygiene, recreation and sports, and arts and culture. The Liquor Licensing Board meets quarterly to consider contested applications.
The council has established nine geographically-based committees to monitor the provision of municipal services and facilities. Each district committee comprises Provisional Regional Council members and other members co-opted from provisional district boards and the local community.
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