Friday 29 Mar 2024
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PETALING JAYA: The Selangor State Executive Council has rejected the Petaling Jaya City Council’s proposal that both councillors and the council staff receive a three months’ performance bonus for 2014.

Selangor Menteri Besar Mohamed Azmin Ali (pic) said in a statement yesterday that if any local authorities receive an increase in tax collection, it must channel it to serve the public interest instead of behaving like a corporate, profit-based entity.

“The increase in tax revenue must be used to improve the public services. It should not be seen as profit from a business venture.

“It must be managed well and the proceeds be returned to the public through a better and more efficient management and service system. There must be better road maintenance, better garbage collection, and ensuring of clean and secure surroundings.

“The local authorities must also explore and invest in new services to improve the quality of life in the city. Based on these reasons the Selangor State Executive Council has rejected the Petaling Jaya City Council’s proposal for bonus.

“However, we do approve a one-month bonus to be paid to all city council staff,” said Mohamed Azmin in the statement, adding that the state government will also prepare a tighter and stricter guideline on financial management for all local authorities in the state.

Earlier yesterday, it was reported that the councillors may have breached the law by voting on a matter in which they have a direct interest.

This is in contravention of Section 34 of the Local Government Act 1976, which prohibits any councillor from voting on a matter in which he or she has a pecuniary interest.

The Edge Financial Daily understands that the council’s finance committee at a meeting on Feb 16 proposed that the councillors enjoy the bonus payouts on top of an increment in allowances.

Out of the 19 councillors who attended the meeting approving the proposal, only seven rejected the proposal.

The councillors approved bonus payouts for themselves and increments in allowances from RM1,500 to RM2,500 for councillors and from RM1,500 to RM2,000 for assistant councillors. Also approved was an increment in the mayor’s allowance from RM2,000 to RM3,000.

What raised eyebrows was the fact that when outgoing mayor Datin Paduka Alinah Ahmad tabled the 2015 Budget on Oct 3 last year, she had declared a RM371 million deficit budget, with whatever surplus to be used to benefit ratepayers through infrastructure, environmental protection and social development programmes.

The payouts alone are almost as much as the allocation for flood mitigation works, for which RM11.08 million had been set aside. Budget 2015 also saw the allocation of RM20.48 million for the maintenance of drains and irrigation systems, as well as public buildings and facilities.

However, it is understood that the “surplus” the finance committee is referring to involves engineering and landscaping projects that have not taken off.


This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on March 5, 2015.

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