O Tae-wan Uiryeong County Governor "Minsheng Budget Disruption... County Council's Hostage Budget Cuts to Residents Are Devastating"

Military Council's Unprecedented 23% Supplementary Budget Cut... Direct Blow to Farmers

Youth, Village Leaders, and Farmers' Groups Strongly Oppose, Announce Collective Action

O Tae-wan, the mayor of Uiryeong County, Gyeongnam, stated on the 9th, "The 'budget cut act' that takes Uiryeong residents hostage was carried out in the Uiryeong County Council, the hall of public opinion. Cutting the 'emergency urgent project funds' is equivalent to telling us not to work," adding, "Uiryeong County will take all possible strong measures."

On the same day, Mayor Oh convened an emergency meeting and said, "This supplementary budget includes many long-awaited projects that residents have endured inconvenience for a long time. I apologize to the residents for not being able to keep the promises," and added, "To protect the lives of residents and revive Uiryeong's economy, proactive and bold responses are urgently needed at this time, but the county council's obstruction has increased residents' inconvenience and put a red light on county administration."

O Tae-wan, Uiryeong County Governor. [Image provided by Uiryeong County]

Earlier, the Uiryeong County Council reviewed the supplementary budget from the 4th to the 8th and cut about 8.8 billion KRW, which is approximately 23.7% of the 37.3 billion KRW budget. This adjustment scale is 29 times the average adjustment rate of 0.83% in the last six supplementary budgets.

In particular, 1.895 billion KRW allocated for resident convenience projects and safety prevention projects such as property and life protection, which were formed based on residents' opinions gathered through 'Dialogue with Residents' held across all 13 towns and townships with county council members, were entirely cut by the council on the grounds of being 'unnecessary and non-urgent.'

The county questioned, "Why should the judgment of county council members calling it 'unnecessary and non-urgent' take precedence over the residents' convenience?" and expressed deep regret, saying, "The county council rejected the earnest demands of residents that came out during the dialogue with residents. As a result of budget review without principles and common sense, urgent safety budgets and livelihood budget execution plans have been disrupted."

Especially, the youth-related budget strategically promoted by Mayor Oh was entirely cut, putting the project at risk of suspension. The county is creating a youth special zone in Chilgok-myeon to overcome the reality of a region facing extinction. Last month, the opening ceremony of 'Cheongnyeonmangae,' a youth communication space, was held, meeting the expectations of young people.

Last year, the county was selected for the youth village shared housing project contest and received 1 billion KRW in national funds. However, the county council cut the entire budget this time, which had secured national and provincial funds, putting the county in a position to return all secured national and provincial funds. The same reason applies to the cut budget for the construction of the Burimbongsu Agricultural Complex Cultural Center.

Such cuts to national and provincial funds can be interpreted as a refusal to participate in county matching projects, which may lower the county's credibility and become an obstacle to securing national and provincial funds in the future.

Mayor Oh is putting his life on the line to select contest projects considering the reality of the region's lack of self-generated revenue, and the county set a record last year by achieving over 100 billion KRW in contest project funds for two consecutive years, focusing on all-around project promotion by sector.

Urgent farmers' long-standing requests include budgets for ▲supporting the purchase of joint pesticide sprayers for farmers at 33.7 million KRW ▲supporting the repair of irrigation facilities at 95 million KRW ▲modernization of rice joint nursery facilities at 275 million KRW ▲fostering local specialty items at 1.224 billion KRW.

Additionally, five agricultural-related projects, including irrigation facility repair support, rice joint nursery facility modernization, new construction and modernization of processing plants, fostering local specialty items, and machinery and equipment purchases, were selected for provincial contest projects and have already completed contractor selection, so the budget cuts are expected to cause significant damage to farmers.

The unprecedented budget cuts have unsettled the local community. Harsh criticisms continue, such as "After the abuse of power and verbal abuse controversies, is this now dereliction of duty?" and "The council, which has been plagued by various lawsuits, accusations, and scandals, has done it again."

Meanwhile, social organizations such as youth and farmers' groups and the Association of Village Heads are strongly opposing and have announced collective action.

Mayor Oh said, "The desperate cut of this supplementary budget proves that the county council has no interest in regional development and people's livelihood," adding, "They should feel ashamed for not fulfilling the county council's original role of serving and representing the residents." He added, "Although this supplementary budget was cut, about 600 public officials will do their best to manage the local economy and prepare for Uiryeong's future through close communication with residents."

Meanwhile, the county plans to reorganize the cut budget in the upcoming second supplementary budget.