GOYANG — Goyang Mayor Min Kyung-sun called for a close review of whether each program is necessary and how much residents actually benefit from it, saying unnecessary spending in next year's budget must be cut. With spending requests rising far faster than revenue and the city facing a heavier fiscal burden as Gyeonggi Province's finances deteriorate, the mayor said the city would restructure its budget by choosing priorities and concentrating resources on them.
Min held a city administration meeting in the main conference room at Goyang City Hall on Sept. 16, reviewing the direction of the 2027 general budget and major programs by bureau, division and office.
From the outset of the meeting, Min stressed debate and communication among departments rather than one-sided budget adjustments. "I hope this becomes a place for debate and communication on next year's budget, not one-sided orders from the mayor," he said. "Please discuss it fully, focusing on why each program should be pursued and what benefits it delivers to residents."
Goyang currently faces a wide gap between projected revenue and spending requests for next year. Lee Kyung-hee, head of the Planning and Coordination Office, said revenue requests for the 2027 general budget were down 0.3% from a year earlier, while spending requests rose 12.4%. Spending requests exceed revenue by about 365 billion won, making a review and adjustment of requests from every department unavoidable.
Further budget adjustments were also raised as a possibility depending on the scale of preliminary national and provincial subsidy allocations, which will be finalized next month. Lee said that for programs where the benefit to residents is low relative to the city's burden, or where provincial support is being reduced or eliminated, the city needs to consider scaling them back or letting them lapse rather than automatically covering the gap with city funds.
Min also called for stricter scrutiny of new programs. "We should not pursue something simply because it was a campaign pledge. We need to clearly strengthen the reasoning for why it is needed," he said. "Once a program starts, it is not easy to stop, so it requires meticulous review beforehand."
He also asked for a reexamination of spending that is relatively easier to adjust, such as research contracts and overseas trips. Min called for cutting unnecessary or overlapping research contracts, and for programs tied to national projects he suggested that "gathering residents' views and reflecting them in national studies is more efficient than commissioning our own." He also instructed officials to reassess the need for overseas travel budgets whose purpose and results are unclear.
First Vice Mayor Park Won-seok agreed on the need for a zero-based review of existing programs during the budget process, saying there is a need for an overall reexamination of programs and contracts that have continued out of habit and routine.
Min also called for changes to perfunctory programs that residents barely notice. Citing some subsidy programs, he said, "For programs pursued for show, with too much emphasis on form, we need in-depth discussion on changing their content so that residents feel a real sense of benefit."
The pace of budget execution for road and facility projects also came under review. Min pointed to cases in which allocated budgets are repeatedly carried over as compensation procedures and other steps drag on, and asked officials to "minimize carryovers by choosing priorities and concentrating on them."
Responses to Gyeonggi Province's declaration of a fiscal emergency were also discussed. Kim Bo-kyung, the budget officer, said the amount Goyang must cover on its own could rise sharply if provincial subsidy rates are adjusted. Managing the city's share of costs while accounting for the scale of national and provincial support and changes in subsidy rates was presented as a key task.
Based on the discussions, Goyang plans to further review the necessity of each department's programs and how they will be funded before finalizing its 2027 general budget proposal.
