POCHEON — With deteriorating finances in Gyeonggi Province making a decline in provincial and other dependent revenues increasingly likely, the city of Pocheon is embarking on a sweeping fiscal slimdown that will review every project from scratch for next year's main budget. The aim is to channel limited resources into urgent livelihood programs and secure fiscal soundness in advance.
Pocheon said on the 29th that it has formed a fiscal efficiency task force and put it into full operation to respond aggressively to the rapidly changing fiscal environment and maximize the efficiency of resource allocation.
The task force is headed by the chief of the Population Growth Bureau and includes the heads of nine bureaus and offices within the city government. It will direct the restructuring of projects across the entire city administration until Dec. 17, when the main budget bill for next year is set to receive final approval.
Under the responsibility of each division and bureau head, the task force will rigorously reassess the necessity, validity and urgency of projects under their jurisdiction from a zero base and set new priorities for each. It will use alignment with the policy direction of the eighth popularly elected local government and the degree to which residents feel the effects as key criteria, sharply cutting budgets or reviewing whether to continue projects that have shown weak results or lack justification.
The city will also significantly tighten its standards for reviewing state- and province-subsidized projects. Projects whose central government or Gyeonggi Province support has been cut entirely will be wound down as a matter of principle. For projects where a reduced subsidy ratio has increased the burden on city funds, the city will weigh project outcomes against budget costs before making a hard decision on whether to continue. Private-sector subsidies and projects contracted out to affiliated public agencies, which have been funded as a matter of custom, will also be fully reexamined for appropriateness and validity as part of a wide-ranging overhaul.
Through the task force, the city plans to curb populist and wasteful spending while concentrating resources on essential mandatory programs directly tied to improving residents' quality of life.
A Pocheon official said the task force is focused on closely examining all customary projects from a zero base and maximizing the effectiveness of fiscal spending. "We will push ahead without disruption on the projects residents truly need, while doing everything we can to raise both fiscal soundness and efficiency at the same time," the official said.
