MPSepang to Increase Contract Staff

THE Sepang Municipal Council (MPSepang) will be hiring more contract staff as part of its workforce expansion exercise under its 2014 budget.
The council is projecting an increase of 55 personnel across 12 departments next year.
The increase includes 10 enforcement assistants and 10 landscape general workers.
Councillor Santokh Singh Gurdev Singh said the increase in workforce was partly due to the newly established Pantas team, formerly known as the Quick Response Team.
Pantas will serve as an early res-ponder for urgent services required of the council, such as infrastructure maintenance and emergencies.
“The council also needs more employees for some of its understaffed departments, such as drivers to operate council vehicles and landscape workers to manage its nurseries.
“MPSepang’s workforce numbers more than 500 at present,” said Santokh.
He said the council’s 2014 budget was unanimously agreed upon and approved by all the councillors during its tabling on Monday.
MPSepang is projecting a balanced budget for 2014, compared to its projected surplus budgets for 2013 and 2012.
“The council is expecting a balanced budget next year, as it is more assured of its revenue and expenditure.
“The previous years’ budgets were uncertain due to the takeover process of the garbage collection and cleaning services, which were previously handled by Alam Flora but now come under the jurisdiction of the local council,” said Santokh.
He said before the takeover, almost 35% of MPSepang’s budget expenditure was for garbage collection and cleaning services under Alam Flora, but that had been decreased to about 29% for 2014.
“The contractors are now directly employed by the council, and are very happy under the new directive.
“They receive better rates as there are no more middlemen involved, and receive their payment on time,” he said.
The council is projecting RM92.4mil for both its revenue and expenditure next year, with a 1.1% increase in revenue and 6.5% increase in expenditure compared to this year.
The council has projected that it will spend RM61.3 mil, or 66% of its expenditure allocation, to provide council services.
This includes back-to-basic services such as cleaning roads and cutting grass, landscaping works, and maintaining infrastructure and public facilities.
“One of the contributing factors in the increase of some RM8mil for council services compared to this year is the council’s decision to take over the maintenance and cleaning services of more housing and commercial areas next year, after the necessary certifications have been given and handover completed by the developers,” said Santokh.
In terms of breakdown according to departments, the bulk of the council’s expenditure will go to the Urban Services (28.8% or RM26.7 mil), followed by Management Services (18.2% or RM16.9 mil) and Landscape (13.2% or RM12.2 mil).
“MPSepang’s projected increase in revenue comes from the assessment of new properties, which numbers about 7,500 units,” said Santokh.
The council has projected that it will receive RM75.8 mil, or 83% of its revenue, from assessment payments.

Source:TheStar