Goyang City Faces Continued Annual Rental Burden of 1.3 Billion Won
Budget Excluded from All Three Reviews
Relocation of 25 Departments Across Five Bureaus Delayed
Legal Issues Such as Need for Investment Review Have Been Resolved
Goyang Special City in Gyeonggi Province (Mayor Lee Donghwan) is facing continued difficulties with its "Baekseok Annex Department Relocation Project," which was initiated to resolve the issue of external leased office buildings. The project has once again failed to secure the necessary budget. As a result, the city is expected to continue bearing the annual rental costs of approximately 1.3 billion won, and citizens will continue to experience administrative inconveniences due to the dispersion of city offices for the time being.
According to Goyang City on December 19, the 4 billion won budget for the "Baekseok Annex Department Relocation Project" was not included in the main budget for 2026. This marks the third time the project has been rejected, following complete cuts in both the first and second supplementary budgets this year.
The "Baekseok Annex Department Relocation Project" is a simple renovation initiative that aims to consolidate and relocate 25 departments currently spread across external leased offices into a single location at the Baekseok-dong office building, which the city acquired through a donation.
The project has been reviewed as a means to efficiently utilize existing public assets, reduce recurring rental expenditures associated with external leased offices, and simultaneously improve both citizen accessibility and administrative efficiency.
During the budget review process, some city council members raised legal and procedural issues by categorizing the Baekseok office department relocation as a new office construction project, questioning whether an investment review was necessary, whether it constituted new construction, and whether a feasibility study was required. However, these issues have now been resolved. The city explained that procedural legality and legitimacy have been confirmed through relevant laws, authoritative interpretations by central administrative agencies, and the results of an audit by the Board of Audit and Inspection.
Additionally, while the city respects the city council's judgment and decisions regarding budget allocation, it expressed regret over the repeated budget cuts, considering the project's purpose of alleviating citizen inconvenience, enhancing administrative efficiency, and reducing the operating costs of leased offices.
Currently, due to the dispersion of city hall departments, citizens must visit multiple offices to handle their affairs, resulting in inconvenience. There are also ongoing structural limitations in interdepartmental collaboration and prompt administrative responses.
Furthermore, the operation of external leased offices incurs annual rental expenses of more than 900 million won, and when public utility fees and facility management costs are added, the total financial burden amounts to approximately 1.3 billion won each year.
In particular, the phased utilization plan to address the "long-term underutilization of the Baekseok office building," which has been consistently pointed out by the Special Committee for Administrative Affairs Investigation of the city council, can no longer proceed due to the failure to secure the budget.
A Goyang Special City official stated, "The Baekseok Annex Department Relocation Project has been reviewed as a measure to reduce citizen inconvenience and alleviate the financial burden," adding, "We will continue to communicate with the city council to seek rational ways to utilize the Baekseok office building going forward."
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