management and construction of public sports facilities, such as swimming pools, gardens, places of recreation, indoor and outdoor sports facilities, museums, public libraries and large-scale cultural centres.
After the 1973 Urban Council reform, it began to set up individual or collective work offices for Councillors in Hong Kong and Kowloon where councillors could receive local residents and deal with and reply to complaints from the people. Such complaints need not be limited to matters legally designated within the competence of the Urban Council. From 1973, questions of housing, especially public housing, have been the most common matter of complaint every year. Councillors generally hand these complaints over to the relevant government department or public body for an answer. Urban Councillors can only give assistance in cases raised by urban residents and this assistance is limited to putting pressure on government departments or public bodies and has not in any way increased their legal ability to interfere.
Since 1973, the Urban Council has been financially independent. In the 1988-89 Final Accounts they had spent almost 253 million dollars on its various activities and plans. The Council is financed by a share of the rates which provides about 80 per cent of its income. with the balance coming from licence fees and other charges.
From this it can be seen that the expenses of the Urban Council are by no means small, but are mainly limited to the provision of services in culture, recreation, environment and health in the City. The policies and decisions of the Urban Council are carried out. The Council has an Urban services Department with a staff of 18,600.
The Regional Council consists of 36 people of whom 12 are directly elected; 9 are indirectly elected representing the District Boards within the Regional Council Area; 12 are appointed by the Governor and the other 3 are ex fissio members being the Chairman and 2 Vice-Chairmen of the Heung Yi Kuk.
Concerning the duties of the Regional Councils, they are in the words of a scholar, "basically a repeat of the Urban Council. Parts v-vii and most of Part viii of the Regulations for the Urban Council are exactly the same as Parts v-vii and the majority of Part viii of the Regulations for the Regional Council, the only difference being in their subordinate regions. These provisions outline the powers, procedures, finances and so on." This means that the Regional Council's powers are also to provide services in culture, recreation and health.
The Regional Council enjoys financial autonomy, 86 per cent of its revenue comes from rates collected in Regional Council area and rest of it comes from various fees, charges and interest on deposits. In the Financial Year 1987-88, its income was 1,132m Dollars and its recurrent and non recurrent expenses amounted to 928 million dollars. There are altogether 9,000 people in the Regional Services Department working in Departments carrying out the policies of the Rrgional Council.
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