Basis for 2.8% Increase in Monthly Allowance for Seoul City Council Members Next Year Decided by 2018 'Seoul City Legislative Pay Deliberation Committee'

Seoul Metropolitan Council Clarifies on 17th That Monthly Allowance for Seoul Council Members Is Determined Annually by the Seoul Metropolitan Legislative Expense Deliberation Committee Composed Entirely of External Members According to Article 33 of the Enforcement Decree of the Local Autonomy Act

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] The Seoul Metropolitan Council issued a clarification on the 17th regarding reports that the council increased legislative activity allowances by 2.7% without special grounds.

In the released statement, the council explained that the monthly allowance for Seoul city council members is based on the monthly allowance of the year determined by the 'Seoul Metropolitan Legislative Allowance Deliberation Committee' (composed entirely of external members) in accordance with Article 33 of the Enforcement Decree of the Local Autonomy Act (Standards for Payment of Legislative Activity Allowances, Travel Expenses, and Monthly Allowances). The committee comprehensively considers factors such as the population of the local government, financial capacity, local government employee salary increase rates, and the legislative activity performance of the local council after elections held due to term expiration in the year when local council elections occur.

Accordingly, pursuant to Article 34 of the Enforcement Decree of the Local Autonomy Act (Composition of the Legislative Allowance Deliberation Committee), on November 27, 2018, the Seoul Metropolitan Legislative Allowance Deliberation Committee, composed of members from the education sector, legal sector, media, and civic groups, operating under the Seoul Mayor as the head of the local government, decided on the 'Payment Standards for Legislative Allowances of the 10th Seoul Metropolitan Council Members.'

The decision at that time was that the monthly allowance for the 10th council members for the 1st and 2nd years (2019, 2020) would be paid by adding 50% of the previous year's public servant salary increase rate, and for the 3rd and 4th years (2021, 2022), the monthly allowance would be paid by adding the full previous year's public servant salary increase rate. (The public servant salary increase rate for 2020 was 2.8%)

Therefore, the basis for the 2.8% increase in the 2021 Seoul city council members' monthly allowance was decided by the 'Seoul Metropolitan Legislative Allowance Deliberation Committee' composed of external members in 2018, and the 2022 Seoul city council members' monthly allowance is expected to reflect the next year's (2021) public servant salary increase rate of 0.9%.

It was also explained that the recently passed ordinance changes the 'Monthly Allowance Payment Standard Table' in accordance with the 'Payment Standards for Legislative Allowances of the 10th Seoul Metropolitan Council Members.'

The Seoul Metropolitan Council clarified that based on these grounds, the monthly allowance for Seoul city council members will be increased by 2.8% next year.

Meanwhile, the Justice Party Seoul Branch criticized on the afternoon of the 16th through a commentary, stating, "While the situation of vulnerable groups has worsened due to the COVID-19 crisis, the Seoul Metropolitan Council self-increased their salaries as the first agenda item at the start of the plenary session," and added, "The minimum wage for next year is increased by 1.5% compared to this year, but the council increased their salaries by 2.7% without special grounds."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.