Salary only small part of city officials' incomes<\/p>\n
Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
On any given day, the parking lot for level II officials at City
\nHall is filled with expensive cars and drivers waiting to whisk
\ntheir bosses home.<\/p>\n
Level II officials consist of heads of agencies and bureaus,
\nas well as assistants to the city secretary.<\/p>\n
From their cars and drivers, it would be natural to assume
\nthat these officials pull down pretty hefty monthly salaries.<\/p>\n
You would be wrong. According to one level II official,
\nspeaking on condition of anonymity, the officials make about Rp
\n3.5 million to Rp 4.5 million a month, depending on their
\nposition and length of employment.<\/p>\n
A member of the City Council's budget commission, Nurmansyah
\nLubis, said on Wednesday officials in the city administration
\ncould take home three to four times their officials monthly
\nsalaries.<\/p>\n
\"And this income is legal because it is allocated in the city
\nbudget,\" he told The Jakarta Post.<\/p>\n
A close look at the 2005 draft budget shows that each agency
\nin the administration is allocating between 10 percent and 30
\npercent of their respective budgets for officials' \"additional
\nwelfare\".<\/p>\n
According to Nurmansyah, these allocations are used to pay
\nofficials honorariums for carrying out their routine duties.<\/p>\n
The City Audit Agency, he says, allocates funds to pay
\nhonorariums to officials involved in auditing activities. The
\nCity Assets Bureau allocates money to pay officials involved in
\ninventorying the city's assets.<\/p>\n
\"Ideally, those officials would not receive these honorariums
\nbecause they are only doing their jobs,\" Nurmansyah said.<\/p>\n
However, he said the council could not scrap these allocations
\nin the 2005 draft budget because they had become so entrenched in
\nthe system.<\/p>\n
\"We also did not have to discuss each item stipulated in the
\ndraft because of time constraints,\" he said, adding that the
\ncouncil might begin scrapping such allocations in the 2006 city
\nbudget.<\/p>\n
The council is set to approve the Rp 14 trillion 2005 budget
\non Jan. 6. Last year's budget was Rp 12.6 trillion.<\/p>\n
The level II official who requested anonymity, and who is
\nheavily involved in budget deliberations, confirmed such
\nallocations, but stressed that they were needed as long as the
\ncity did not have proper payment mechanisms.<\/p>\n
\"If we scrapped such allocations, many officials in the city
\nadministration would resign and go to private companies because
\nthey could not live on our monthly salaries alone,\" he said.<\/p>\n
\"How can a level II official survive in Jakarta on a Rp 4
\nmillion monthly salary,\" he told the Post at his office.<\/p>\n
Nurmansyah, however, said the city should scrap these
\nallocations in the future because they were sources of
\ncorruption.<\/p>\n
He said the council's budgetary committee would discuss with
\nrelevant officials how to eliminate these allocations and how to
\nestablish proper payment mechanisms for civil servants in the
\nadministration.<\/p>\n
\"We realize that before we scrap such allocations, we must be
\nable to establish a good payment system. Significant salary
\nincreases are needed for officials who must carry out extra
\nduties,\" he said.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/salary-only-small-part-of-city-officials-incomes-1447893297",
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