The city of Hanam in Gyeonggi Province has paid 30 million won to public servants who worked to push through regulatory reform, the largest single-case payout since the introduction of its performance bonus system. The move aims to spread an organizational culture that fairly rewards public servants who work hard.
On Wednesday, Hanam City held its first monthly meeting since the launch of the ninth popularly elected local government at the main auditorium in the city hall annex, paying a total of 57.8 million won in performance bonuses for 24 cases across 19 departments.
The case that received the highest amount was the Sewerage Division's "securing the causer's charge for the Gamil sewage treatment plant expansion project." The award recognized the achievement of collecting 23.5 billion won from LH late last year, tied to the increased cost of the sewage treatment plant construction that had dragged on for more than seven years. The bonus will be distributed among four contributors, including the head of the eco-friendly business office.
The record payout was backed by an institutional improvement. After the Ministry of the Interior and Safety revised the relevant regulations this January to raise the performance bonus ceiling to 30 million won, the city fully revised the "Hanam City Rules on Performance Management and Evaluation" this May to establish the basis for the payment.
Earlier, the city had also paid a public servant 10 million won in performance bonus last year — the highest amount ever among cities and counties in Gyeonggi Province — for adjusting the location of Station 104 on the Subway Line 3 extension to improve access to the old city center.
Regulatory reform achievements were also introduced as best practices on the day. A representative case was the "removal of obstacles to the Camp Colbern development."
Under Gyeonggi Province's guidelines for lifting development restriction zones, the required ratio of public rental housing was fixed at 50 percent, making private participation difficult. However, the city continued to petition Gyeonggi Province and lowered this ratio to 35 percent. As a result, the project, which had been delayed for 20 years, is now proceeding smoothly, with the selection of a private business operator and the completion of prior negotiations. This case was selected for the top prize at Gyeonggi Province's regulatory innovation competition and received a 15 million won award.
The city was also selected as an excellent institution in the 2025 comprehensive evaluation of cities and counties in Gyeonggi Province, securing a 200 million won award. The city plans to use 50 percent of this as project funds for responding to the comprehensive evaluation, and pay the rest as incentives to the officials who contributed.
Mayor Lee Hyun-jae stressed, "An organizational culture in which public servants who work hard and deliver results receive fair rewards will ultimately lead to better administrative services and citizen satisfaction," adding, "The best practices introduced today must spread to all departments and lead to administrative innovation that citizens can feel."
