Gimhae City Tightens Belt... Expenditure Restructuring in Response to Decrease in Local Allocation Tax

Mayor Hong Tae-yong: "Use the budget like your own money, without waste"

"All departments must participate in carefully reviewing the budget as if it were their own money to ensure that no resources are wasted."

On the 12th, Hong Taeyong, Mayor of Gimhae City, Gyeongnam Province, made this statement at an expenditure restructuring briefing for sound fiscal management.

Mayor Hong shared the city's financial conditions and discussed next year's budget formulation plans with heads of departments, bureaus, and investment and contribution institutions.

Hong Tae-yong, Mayor of Gimhae City, Gyeongnam, is presiding over the expenditure restructuring briefing.
[Photo by Gimhae City Hall]

According to the city, the government previously forecasted that next year's local allocation tax would decrease by 11.3% from this year, dropping by 8.5 trillion won.

Gimhae City expects a decrease of about 45 billion won in local allocation tax revenue and decided to prepare countermeasures against the reduction of funds, such as expenditure restructuring and discovering available resources.

The city is preparing for major events including the 105th National Sports Festival next year, the 2024 East Asia Cultural City project, and the Year of Visit Gimhae.

Although local allocation tax is decreasing and local tax revenue is increasing slightly, the demand for mandatory expenditure budgets such as various event costs and statutory expenses is rising, which is expected to cause an imbalance between revenue and expenditure.

Accordingly, the city communicated to all departments an expenditure restructuring promotion plan that includes reducing next year's initial budget by at least 10% compared to this year's first supplementary budget.

The plan includes ▲ minimizing carryover and non-utilization of large-scale investment projects ▲ reorganizing underperforming and poorly executed projects ▲ avoiding unnecessary projects and adjusting their timing ▲ rational reduction of routinely and repeatedly allocated current expenses ▲ strengthening the subsidy management committee.

The city plans to reflect the department-specific implementation plans presented at this briefing in next year's budget.

Mayor Hong said, "The budget saved through this expenditure restructuring will be used without waste on truly necessary areas," and added, "I hope the project departments will actively cooperate so that our city can overcome financial difficulties."