On December 16, Pocheon City in Gyeonggi Province announced that it had been selected as the top local government in the fiscal management improvement category in the '2025 (FY2024) Local Government Fiscal Analysis' conducted by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety.
The Local Government Fiscal Analysis is a system that comprehensively evaluates the fiscal soundness, efficiency, and accountability of local governments nationwide and provides special grant incentives to outstanding local governments. Pocheon City was selected as the top local government for fiscal improvement in the City-III category.
In this year’s evaluation, Pocheon City showed significant improvement across key fiscal indicators, including public enterprise debt management, local tax collection rate enhancement, and reduction of internal expenses.
The public enterprise debt ratio dropped significantly to 2.23% from 3.45% the previous year, which is well below both the category average of 6.94% and the national average of 39.34%. This achievement is attributed to the city's avoidance of excessive borrowing despite continuously rising demand for public infrastructure, as well as its adjustment of business plans in line with a fiscal soundness policy.
The local tax collection rate improvement reached 1.0070%, up from 0.9851% the previous year. The main factors behind this improvement include an expanded tax base due to an increase in apartment occupancy and higher officially assessed real estate prices, systematic organization of tax data, expansion of electronic notifications, and strengthened encouragement for voluntary payments.
In particular, Pocheon City actively adopted new collection methods, such as introducing electronic notifications and refund alert services via KakaoTalk, using drones for delinquency management, and seizing proceeds from solar power sales, achieving notable results in clearing overdue local taxes.
Additionally, the internal expense ratio improved to 22.73% from 23.90% the previous year, remaining lower than the category average of 29.23%. Despite challenging revenue conditions due to the economic downturn, the city consistently curbed unnecessary recurring expenses by adjusting the expenditure structure to focus on general operating expenses from the main budget planning stage, reducing office management costs, cutting business promotion expenses, and integrating events and festivals.
Pocheon City explained that these achievements are the result of responsible fiscal management and structural improvement efforts. The city actively participated in national and provincial public project competitions to secure funding, continuously improved vulnerable areas through fiscal analysis, and strengthened budget execution monitoring, thereby establishing a comprehensive fiscal management system that led to these results.
A Pocheon City official stated, "The results of this fiscal analysis objectively confirm our efforts to manage finances responsibly and efficiently despite limited resources," adding, "We will continue to pursue changes and achievements that citizens can feel through fiscal management that ensures both soundness and efficiency."
The official further commented, "With this top rating in fiscal management improvement, we will further strengthen transparency and accountability in fiscal operations, and strategically invest secured funds in key projects for public welfare and urban competitiveness enhancement."
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