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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
187
Chairman (in Cantonese):-All those Members who wanted to speak have spoken. Now the motion is put to vote.
The question was put.
The motion was carried unanimously.
(3) MR. CHAN Choi-hi moved the following motion:
'In view of the Director of Audit's comments on the operation of the Council's URBTIX system, the Council is urged to review its existing 'full cost recovery' policy and operational efficiency of the URBTIX system as soon as possible, and consider setting a time-table to achieve full cost recovery from commercial hirers and drawing up guidelines for granting exemption/concessionary rates to charitable/non-commercial hirers.'
He said (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, in 1992 the Director of Audit conducted a review on the accounts of Urban Council's URBTIX system. The purpose of the review was to evaluate the performance of the system and to see whether the system can further cut down its cost and whether there is room for improving its cost-effectiveness. The Director of Urban Services did not deny that the system, though successful and effective, still had much room for improvement. As a result, the Director of Audit made a series of comments and recommendations to the Council.
One point which is worth studying and considering is the suggestion of setting a target date for full cost recovery. At the last Monthly Meeting of the Urban Council, in reply to Miss Ada WONG's question concerning the URBTIX system, the Chairman of the Administration Select Committee, Mr. SUEN Kai-cheong, reiterated that it would be anomalous for the Council to subsidise cultural events as a matter of policy, whilst at the same time seeking to recover the full cost of its ticketing service. He stressed that a timetable will not be set for achieving full cost recovery, but the Council will continue to review the subsidy level having regard to inflation, public acceptability and other factors. I believe that the Administration Select Committee will not forget the reply at the January Monthly Meeting.
The Department also submitted a paper concerning service charge of the URBTIX system and the reasons for not recovering full cost. Several points were frequently mentioned. Firstly, it is the policy of the Urban Council to subsidise ticketing services for the purpose of promoting cultural and arts activities, and it would be anomalous for the Council to subsidize cultural activities on the one hand and seeking to recover full cost on the other. Secondly, recovering full cost will result in an increase in prices and will lead to public discontent. Thirdly, this system enables the Urban Council to calculate accurately the hiring charge of the venue at a percentage of the income from ticket sales and charge the hirer accordingly. Fourthly, the subsidy level was
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