Lawmakers have proposed amending regulations to increase city and county councilors’ funding for the hiring of assistants.
The draft amendments to the Regulations on Allowances for Elected Representatives and Subsidies for Chiefs of Village (地方民意代表費用支給及村里長事務補助費補助條例) were proposed by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Sra Kacaw (鄭天財) and other lawmakers.
Shortly after the Lunar New Year holiday last month, Taipei City councilors Dai Hsi-chin (戴錫欽) and Yeh Lin-chuan (葉林傳) led Taipei city councilors from across party lines in meeting with Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜).
Photo: Lin Liang-sheng, Taipei Times
Dai told Han that while legislators’ funding for assistants’ salaries has increased from about NT$240,000 to NT$490,000 (US$7,634 to US$15,586) per month over the past 24 years, the funding city councilors receive has not changed.
As local council speakers and deputy speakers largely agree that city and county councilors’ assistants should receive a legal, reasonable salary, the regulations must be revised to maintain talented personnel, Dan told Han.
Han said he hoped the issue could be dealt with during this legislative session.
The amendment proposes increasing the monthly funding for assistants in the six special municipalities’ from NT$240,000 to NT$360,000 per councilor, and that of other administrative regions from NT$80,000 to NT$200,000 per councilor.
The proposed increase in assistant fees would raise government expenditure by NT$19,200,000 per month and NT$1.31 billion per year.
The lawmakers also proposed allowing village and borough chiefs to apply for funding for public service fees and giving them cash gifts for the Lunar New Year, as is provided to township citizen representatives.
If the revision is passed, it is expected to increase government expenditure by NT$953 million each year.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) yesterday said that as lawmakers reached a consensus on the proposal, parties are expected to cooperate on improving funding for assistants.
DPP Legislator Huang Jie (黃捷), formerly a Kaohsiung city councilor, last month proposed a similar amendment to the act.
For a long time, city and county councilors’ funding for assistant’s salaries has not been raised, nor has overtime pay been allocated, she said yesterday.
Assistants are also not allowed to have part-time jobs, which along with their low salaries, harsh working conditions and low chances of promotion, leads to a high turnover, Huang said.
Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Lin Kuo-cheng (林國成) said that funding of NT$240,000 for hiring assistants per month is clearly not enough, so he supports amending the law.
The Ministry of the Interior’s Department of Civil Affairs said the increase in funding for assistants would be covered by local governments, so they would need to be able to support the amendment financially.
Additional reporting by Lee Wen-hsin
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