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different from that of other government departments in that it is an executive department under the Urban Council. This Council is in itself an independent decision-making body with the power to formulate and implement policies. It also enjoys the power of independent use of financial resources.
In general, the management and allocation of financial resources for government departments are subject to the overall supervision of the Finance Branch. As a wholly elected policy body, this Council is legally empowered to monitor the utilization of resources by the Urban Services Department and it is backed by the public to do so. For this reason, government should not intervene in the management and allocation of resources in respect of the Urban Services Department. In other words, government should not intervene with the financial operation of the Urban Services Department.
However, this Council's budget for the next three years has been drastically cut by the Finance Branch so that we may have to revise our financial arrangement accordingly. There is a crucial terminology used in the original motion, that is a budget to keep expenditure within the limit of resources. The meaning drawn from this is just the opposite of budgets of the Urban Council in the past.
In the past, the Members of this Council based on the needs of the public and pre-designed development directions to devise a budget of financial plans and expenditure. The budget was then deliberated by the Finance Select Committee and then submitted to the Finance Branch to bid for allocations. When necessary, the Council's proportion of rates revenue would be revised. In short, the basis on which this Council devised our budgets was to provide service in accordance with social needs, not to set a direction by taking account of the expected income. If this Council has to devise its budget within the principle of keeping expenditure within the limit of revenue, our financial independence will be jeopardised and our discretionary powers will be shifted to others.
Of course, this is not to suggest that this Council 'spends on a spree' without regard to the gap between income and expenditure. In fact, the Democratic Party has given comments on the misuse of resources on different occasions. For example, we spent too extravagantly on the opening ceremony, the structure of the Urban Services Department is too cumbersome and so on.
We did ask that the Urban Services Department review and improve its administrative efficiency, establishment, the operation of urban facilities etc. For example, during one of our monthly meetings, there was a motion on contracting out Urban Council market management to private managing companies so as to improve market operating conditions. We also wanted to commission independent consultant firms to review the Department's establishment and structure so as to enhance efficiency. These suggestions can help towards better utilization of the Department's resources.
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