Suwon City Loses '12 Billion Won' in Grants Due to Incompetent Administration... Only Citizens Suffer

[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] Gyeonggi Province has decided not to provide special adjustment grants to Suwon City and Namyangju City, which paid disaster basic income in 'cash' instead of 'local currency.'

On the 5th, Gyeonggi Province announced that it had decided to provide a total of 115.2 billion won in special adjustment grants as originally promised to 29 cities and counties that participated in the disaster basic income program and paid the income in local currency using their own funds, and notified each city and county accordingly. However, it was finally decided not to provide special adjustment grants to Suwon City and Namyangju City, which paid disaster basic income in cash instead of local currency.

Special adjustment grants are funds provided by the governor to cities, counties, and autonomous districts to resolve financial disparities and provide balanced services. The province had previously considered supporting cities and counties that prepared their own funds to provide disaster basic income to local residents in local currency through special adjustment grants.

A provincial official explained, "We repeatedly pointed out, both directly and indirectly, that paying disaster basic income in cash could cause side effects, but Suwon City and Namyangju City ultimately did not comply and paid in cash. Accordingly, it was decided not to provide the governor's special adjustment grants to these two local governments."

Earlier, on the 2nd, Suwon City posted a petition titled "Please pay the 12 billion won promised by Gyeonggi Province to Suwon citizens" on the Gyeonggi Provincial Government website's citizen petition board.

In response, the province presented detailed reasons why it could not provide special adjustment grants.

First, regarding the claim by the two local governments that excluding cities and counties that paid disaster basic income in cash from Gyeonggi Province's financial support is unfair, the province argued, "The 'Gyeonggi Province Disaster Basic Income Payment Ordinance' enacted by the Gyeonggi Provincial Council on March 31 clearly states that disaster basic income must be paid in local currency."

The province's position is that providing special adjustment grants to cities and counties that paid disaster basic income in cash does not align with the purpose of the ordinance, which is "to revitalize the local economy in difficulty and especially support small and medium-sized merchants by providing extinguishable local currency."

Regarding the claim by the two local governments that there was no clause or prior notice stating that payment must be made in local currency, the province rebutted, "Since the first announcement of the 'Disaster Basic Income Payment Plan' on March 24, principles such as 'payment in local currency that expires after three months' were repeatedly notified."

In particular, the province dismissed the claim by the two local governments that the regulation requiring payment in local currency was established in early May, stating, "In May, we only assessed the financial support status to provide special adjustment grant incentives to 29 cities and counties that operated in accordance with the system's purpose."

The province decided to provide a total of 115.2 billion won in special adjustment grants as originally promised to the 29 cities and counties that participated in the Gyeonggi Province disaster basic income program and paid the income on their own.

Meanwhile, the Namyangju branch of the National Public Officials Labor Union recently issued a statement criticizing the city for not receiving the special adjustment grants supported by Gyeonggi Province due to Namyangju City's cash payment of disaster basic income.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.