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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
For most people in Hong Kong, formal education ends at the secondary level. There may be financial reasons; sometimes this is because our youngsters are fed up after 10 to 12 years of continuous cramming in schools and would like a change; and not to forget the extremely keen competition in getting into our universities and polytechnics. After a few years struggling in the real world, they realize their shortcomings and felt a craving for more schooling. An university offering ‘distance learning', with accumulating 'credit' system would meet most of this need.
Excessive expense appears to be one of the reasons for not having an open university. However, if we aim at enrolling three to five thousand students initially, for a limited number of subjects, such as 'political science', 'social science' and 'computer studies' etc. the expenses should not be that great.
If the argument was that most Hong Kong students do not have an appropriate study environment at home, and that therefore a network of study centres would have to be established, then perhaps this Council could offer its help by providing more studies facilities in its libraries and complexes as 'study centres'. Certainly some of the schools and colleges would not mind opening up their classrooms in the evening for this purpose as well.
As an alternative to an open university, we should start planning immediately 'distance learning by correspondent courses' combined with television and radio programmes, 'part-time attendance at existing recognized institution,' etc., and before it is too late, we should look seriously into the possibility of starting external degrees programmes in both our universities. To meet the urgent need, how about a course on 'Political Science' to begin with.
With these words Mr. Chairman, I support the motion before this Council.
(Messrs. B. A. BERNACCHI and Mr. L. H. KWAN left at this point—4.35 p.m.)
DR. RONALD D. B. LEUNG (in English):-Mr. Chairman, I may also overrun the time allotted to me but I do not propose to overdraw my time from our next session of meeting, nor to borrow some from my colleagues but request to have the full text of my speech tabled for record.
Finance
The first topic of my speech is on our Finance. I would like to say that I have serious concern about our draft budget for the year 1985/86 that we are heading in for a deficit for the third successive year and that the deficit is increasing to a staggering figure of $180 million. Our reserve will plummet to a dangerously low level of $77 million by 31 March 1986 which is less than half a month of expenditure of our Council.
The options will be one of two, namely, to look for additional revenue or to trim down expenditure. We might have experienced this before and but somehow or other it worked out and there was no serious harm. Such an attitude should not prevail now. The environment has changed and our revenue is not unlimited. The government has to work out its own budget and look for fresh areas of revenue as a result of the changed pattern of land sales which the government has heretofore heavily depended on to fuel its own expenditures.
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Our Council receives over 75 per cent of its revenue from a percentage of property rates, currently at 23 per cent. Although we can ask for an increase in this percentage, it has its limits. The government is in need of that much valued revenue to rescue its own deficit. On any increase in the percentage of rates, the Council will have to face an uphill battle. On the other hand, any increase in the property rates may have serious political and economic consequences. Another source of the Council's revenue is from fees collected from rentals and service charges, and this accounts for 25 per cent. Any mention of increase in this area will surely meet with a lot of resistance from the public and should not be contemplated light-heartedly in the present politico-economic climate.
Savings will be our second option in trying to survive financial disaster. It is a matter of urgency for us to talk in terms of cost-effectiveness, and to practise it. We have to be careful in our approval of expenditure. Perhaps in this respect we may regain our balance in the budget. To make ends meet, we have to utilize our limited fund to try to satisfy the unlimited demands on our services and provisions of facilities and expansion into new areas. It is here that we must have a strong sense of duty to allocate priorities and lay proper emphasis. There are three areas where we can exercise our caution, among which they share the percentage of total expenditures as follows:
(1) Staff costs accounts for 58 per cent;
(2) Operational and non-recurrent expenditure takes up 24 per cent;
(3) Capital works expenditure accounts for 18 per cent.
Regarding Items 1 and 2 in expenditure, our Council and the department have exercised due care and attention to concentrate on the cost-effectiveness and value for money spent in all our considerations in approving expenditures. This Council has introduced the new concept of management tools, namely the imposing of the PAL, of the Provisional Acceptable Level of expenditure whereby a provisional figure is suggested to the various Select Committees for the following years' work and expenses, so that a more accurate overall budget can be arrived at, and so that the Committee may be able to re-allocate priorities and to re-adjust less urgent issues and to accommodate new ones within that Provisional Acceptable level expenditure so agreed upon.
Item 3 on capital works demands deeper thought and attention for us all. It is time to consolidate our thought and take a close review on our capital works programmes, because it has serious financial implications on the expenditure burden in our annual budgeting. For the year 1985/86, this item is budgeted at $330 millions, making up 18 per cent of our total spending. It will be in this area that we can rearrange our thinking and make some improvements in our financial status. Let me hasten to add that I am not advocating a cut on this item, but rather I am suggesting that we can modify the ways we spend it and to...
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370
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
For most people in Hong Kong, formal education ends at the secondary level. There may be financial reasons; sometimes this is because our youngsters are fed up after 10 to 12 years of continuous cramming in schools and would like a change; and not to forget the extremely keen competition in getting into our universities and polytechnics. After a few years struggling in the real world, they realize their shortcomings and felt a craving for more schooling. An university offering ‘distance learning', with accumulating 'credit' system would
meet most of this need.
open
Excessive expense appears to be one of the reasons for not having an open university. However, if we aim at enrolling three to five thousand students initially, for a limited number of subjects, such as 'political science', 'social science' and 'computer studies' etc. the expenses should not be that great.
If the argument was that most Hong Kong students do not have an *appropriate study environment' at home, and that therefore a network of study centres would have to be established, then perhaps this Council could offer its help by providing more studies facilities in its libraries and complexes as 'study centres'. Certainly some of the schools and colleges would not mind opening up their classrooms in the evening for this purpose as well.
As an alternative to an open university, we should start planning immediate- ly 'distance learning by correspondent courses' combined with television and radio programmes, 'part-time attendance at existing recognized institution,' etc., and before it is too late, we should look seriously into the possibility of starting external degrees programmes in both our universities. To meet the urgent need, how about a course on 'Political Science' to begin with.
With these words Mr. Chairman, I support the motion before this Council.
(Messrs. B. A. BERNACCHI and Mr. L. H. KWAN left at theis point—4.35 p.m.)
DR. RONALD D. B. LEUNG (in English):-Mr. Chairman, I may also overrun the time allotted to me but I do not propose to overdraw my time from our next session of meeting, nor to borrow some from my colleagues but request to have the full text of my speech tabled for record.
Finance
The first topic of my speech is on our Finance. I would like to say that I have serious concern about our fraft budget for the year 1985/86 that we are heading in for a deficit for the third successive year and that the deficit is increasing to a staggering figure of $180 million. Our reserve will plummet to a dangerously low level of $77 million by 31 March 1986 which is less than half of a month of expenditure of our Council.
The options will be one of two, namely, to look for additional revenue or to trim down expenditure. We might have experienced this before and but somehow or other it worked out and there was no serious harm. Such an attitude should not prevail now. The environment has changed and our revenue
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
Page 205 of 233
371
is not unlimited. The government has to work out its own budget and look for fresh areas of revenue as a result of the changed pattern of land sales which the government has heretofore heavily depended on to fuel its own expenditures.
Our Council receives over 75 per cent of its revenue from a percentage of property rates, currently at 23 per cent. Although we can ask for an increase in this percentage, it has its limits. The government is in need of that much valued revenue to rescue its own deficit. On any increase in the percentage of rates, the Council will have to face an uphill battle. On the other hand, any increase in the property rates may have serious political and economic consequences. Another source of the Council's revenue is from fees collected from rentals and service charges, and this accounts for 25 per cent. Any mention of increase in this area will surely meet with a lot of resistance from the public and should not be contemplated light-heartedly in the present politico-economic climate.
Savings will be our second option in trying to survive financial disaster. It is a matter of urgency for us to talk in terms of cost-effectiveness, and to practise it. We have to be careful in our approval of expenditure. Perhaps in this respect we may regain our balance in the budget. To make ends meet, we have to utilize our limited fund to try to satisfy the unlimited demands on our services and provisions of facilities and expansion into new areas. It is here that we must have a strong sense of duty to allocate priorities and lay proper emphasis. There are three areas where we can exercise our caution, among which they share the percentage of total expenditures as follows:
(1) Staff costs accounts for 58 per cent;
(2) Operational and non recurrent expenditure takes up 24 per cent; (3) Captial works expenditure accounts for 18 per cent.
Regarding Items 1 and 2 in expenditure, our Council and the department have exercised due care and attention to concentrate on the cost-effectiveness and value for money spent in all our considerations in approving expenditures. This Council has introduced the new concept of management tools, namely the imposing of the PAL, of the Provisional Acceptable Level of expenditure whereby a provisional figure is suggested to the various Select Committees for the following years' work and expenses, so that a more accurate overall budget can be arrived at, and so that the Committee may be able to re-allocate priorities and to re-adjust less urgent issues and to accommodate new ones within that Provisional Acceptable level expenditure so agreed upon.
Item 3 on capital works demands deeper thought and attention for us all. It is time to consolidate our thought and take a close review on our capital works programmes, because it has serious financial implications on the expenditure burden in our annual budgetting. For the year 1985/86, this item is budgetted at $330 millions, making up 18 per cent of our total spending. It will be in this area that we can rearrange our thinking and make some improvements in our financial status. Let me hasten to add that I am not advocating a cut on this item, but rather I am suggesting that we can modify the ways we spend it and to
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