SUWON — Gyeonggi Province Governor Choo Mi-ae compared the province's fiscal condition to "a patient wheeled into an emergency room," calling for the restoration of welfare spending and an overhaul of the local finance structure.
Speaking at a joint meeting of Gyeonggi Province and the Democratic Party's supreme council at the province's northern government complex on the 21st, Choo said the first thing she confirmed after taking office was "a nine-month, incomplete budget."
"Many essential programs that should run for a full year had funding allocated only through September," Choo said. "Without securing revenue, school meals for children, care for older adults, and support programs for vulnerable groups and people with disabilities would have shut down one after another."
"What the ninth elected Gyeonggi provincial government is doing is not cutting or eliminating sound programs," she said. "It is a process of trying by all means to salvage programs already on the verge of suspension."
"The patient has been wheeled into the emergency room, and the doctor is stopping the bleeding, treating the wounds and performing surgery," Choo said. "Is it right to ask that doctor why the patient was injured?"
She added that funds saved "with a bone-cutting resolve" are being directed first to programs tied directly to residents' lives. "If we cover up the problem and paper it over with debt, someone else will have to bear it later. I cannot do that," she said.
Choo said the causes of the fiscal crisis must be examined to the end and that institutional reform is needed to prevent a recurrence.
"Gyeonggi Province is doing two things at once," she said. "One is saving welfare programs that are about to stop, and the other is changing the structure so that a fiscal crisis does not happen again."
To that end, Choo proposed three measures.
First, she called for raising the local consumption tax rate in stages from the current 25.3% to 40.3% to secure a stable revenue base for local governments.
She also said 5% of the national portion of the corporate tax should be allocated as revenue for metropolitan-level local governments. The plan is to use those funds to expand infrastructure needed for corporate growth, including industrial complexes, roads, transportation and housing.
Finally, she proposed converting the local education tax levied on tobacco consumption into a regional resource facility tax for firefighting, to be used for firefighter wages.
Democratic Party leader Kim Min-seok responded that the party would "accelerate construction of semiconductor fabs in Yongin and Pyeongtaek and support investment in power, water and transportation infrastructure without setbacks."
Kim also said the party would "build a new foundation for growth on top of the regulations and burdens northern Gyeonggi has endured," adding that it would "work to resolve Gyeonggi Province's weak fiscal structure."
Floor leader Han Byung-do said the government had allocated 95.8 billion won for support of northern Gyeonggi's border areas next year, the largest amount ever. "The Democratic Party will back bold investment so that it leads to change in northern Gyeonggi," he said.
At the budget policy meeting that followed, Gyeonggi Province requested a revision of the law on land returned by U.S. Forces Korea to spur development of returned bases, along with expanded state funding for the purchase of land for roads and parks. The province also called for exemptions from levies in border areas, the transfer of authority to designate public housing districts, and broader authority to lift greenbelt restrictions, including in the Seoul metropolitan area. In semiconductors, it sought expansion of core infrastructure such as power and water, designation of a Gyeonggi semiconductor cluster, and increased state funding. In transportation, it asked for the timely opening of the GTX B and C lines, state funding for extensions of the A, B and C lines, and an expanded list of new projects in the fifth national railway network plan.
Gyeonggi Province also requested a total of 648.4 billion won in state funding for 10 major programs, including wages for labor inspectors, support for collection of delinquent taxes, construction of metropolitan railways, supplementary child care fees under the Nuri Curriculum, Korea's state-funded early childhood education and care program, and integrated medical and long-term care support.
Nam Jong-seop, speaker of the Gyeonggi Provincial Council, said, "I ask the party and the National Assembly to join forces so that Gyeonggi Province can overcome its current difficulties and grow again." He added that the council would "closely examine the fiscal situation and pressing issues affecting residents' lives."
Attendees at the meeting included party leader Kim Min-seok, floor leader Han Byung-do, Secretary-General Han Jeong-ae, policy committee chair Kwon Chil-seung, Yeom Tae-young, chair of the party's committee on good local government, Lee Kwang-jae, chair of the National Assembly's special committee on budget and accounts, Seo Young-suk, chair of the party's provincial chapter, and Nam Jong-seop, speaker of the Gyeonggi Provincial Council.
