Page 22 of 135
10
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
ADDRESS BY CHAIRMAN
CHAIRMAN (in English):—I now call Council to order and proceed with the business of today's meeting.
MINUTES
The minutes of the meeting held on 11 April 1978 were confirmed.
(Mr B. A. BERNACCHI and The Hon. Henry H. L. HU arrived at this point)
STATEMENT BY CHAIRMAN
CHAIRMAN (in English):-The Council has notched up another surplus in the financial year just over. It amounts to $73.72 million subject to audit.
In five years of independent operation it has accumulated nearly $22 million. This covers in theory just about a half-year's expenditure. Several factors explain how it has been possible to pile up this substantial surplus without at the same time letting up on a vast building construction programme and a multitude of new activities for community betterment. Not the least reason is close control of expenditure together with a gradual adjustment of fees and charges to catch up with much higher actual costs of service in order to do away eventually with any hidden subvention contrary to the public interest; but the inability to complete many building schemes on time also plays a part in this result yet ample funds have to be reserved as a precaution to pay for them in due course. Besides, there was the property revaluation for rating purposes put into effect last year. However, staff salaries, rents and other related expenses are rising fast, even more than revenue, and may pass its slower progression in quick time.
As memories could be short, perhaps it would be apt to mention here that this Council voluntarily cut its rate participation last year by two percentage points. It was rightly giving up exactly one-third of its rate revenue in doing so. In the event, this gesture of concern for the people's well-being meant $17.3 million in savings to the urban ratepayer. At that time, when a doubting Thomas here and there questioned the prudence of such a drastic reduction in revenue, I suggested that the Council could sail even closer to the wind without risk of turning turtle as it was unlikely that the projected capital expenditure for the year would fall due all at once.
Anyhow, the Council has gradually put away $150 million in the Capital Projects Reserve Fund to meet a heavy current commitment on civic building and urban amenities. It has also put $50 million aside in a General Reserve Fund as a back-stop.
11
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
All the while that the Council has been transforming its financial base in a sensible way, it has also boldly entered into a many-sided engagement to improve living conditions here. All these far-reaching schemes together are helping to make Hong Kong a more attractive and interesting city. Indeed, in many ways, life for the people today is gratifyingly much better and more pleasant than it was even five years ago with the promise of better things to come. It is a combined community achievement in which this Council has played no mean part. Still, its future practical role must be much more penetrating and imaginative in a society expecting more beneficial results all the time. Rightly so, too. The Council cannot slow down now in consequence. Neither should it think of doing so, come what may. Indeed, what the people want for tomorrow counts, not what was thought good enough yesterday. So, sound policies ought to be formulated in the new idiom and put into practice with enthusiasm and effective management. And, the sole object should be to meet swiftly the people's real needs in an evolving society marching confidently into the twenty-first century with giant strides. And, if Hong Kong has the means, as it does, there is no reason to hold back. The people must be given the best that money can buy. After all, it is their money in fact.
Meanwhile, a special sub-committee has been set up to carry out specific assignments of impact in the long term. Its object is to probe into the complete financial implications of more precise long-range planning of services and activities, existing and contemplated, and to relate them to potential revenue and expenditure. Its brief is also to study the feasibility of further adapting suitable features of the latest budgeting procedures (ZBB) to the management exercise of assessing the value and purpose of alternative approaches to the performance of selected Council functions. All in all, it will mean a different perspective for the Council, certainly of advantage to its new dimension.
To advance in a tangible and constructive way the people's just claim for a better life insofar as it depends on this Council's work and intervention should be its constant preoccupation. In the final analysis, to secure the happiness of the people must be the aim and purpose of any public administration, surely. It has timeless relevance in any context. Is it not more so in the peculiar conditions here? For, putting the people's needs and happiness first must be essentially what real democracy is all about in this sensitive day and age. In any case, it should be the Council's total commitment.
PAPER
The following paper was laid on the table:-Report to the Urban Council by the Director of Urban Services and Secretary, Urban Council, for the month of April 1978.
Page 22 of 135