Naju City to Provide Disaster Relief Funds to All Citizens

[Naju=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Yuk-bong] Naju City in Jeollanam-do has decided to provide disaster relief funds to all citizens to revitalize the livelihood economy, which has been stagnated due to COVID-19.

Mayor Kang In-gyu announced on the 26th, "Since all citizens continue to suffer damage due to COVID-19, we have seriously accepted the demands of the citizens and decided to provide disaster relief funds."

He added, "The disaster relief funds will be universally provided to all citizens," and "The scale of the payment will be decided as soon as possible through expenditure budget savings and financial demand analysis."

Regarding the payment timing, he emphasized, "We will decide carefully considering the government's supplementary budget and quarantine situation, but the payment will be made no later than March."

The city plans to strengthen cooperation with the city council to establish ordinances as the basis for providing disaster relief funds and to allocate the budget in the first supplementary budget.

Also, considering the challenging financial conditions due to the decrease in available resources and the increase in expenditure demands, as part of COVID-19 financial support, the city has focused on indirect support such as reducing various charges including water and sewage fees, agricultural machinery rental fees, and expanding the circulation of Naju Sarang gift certificates.

Regarding disaster relief funds, the city previously supported 3.101 billion KRW for the government's first disaster relief fund last year and 4.469 billion KRW for the Jeonnam-type disaster relief fund by bearing city expenses from government or Jeonnam provincial resources.

However, following last year, considering the increased demands from local communities due to some local governments including Gyeonggi-do deciding to provide their own disaster relief funds, the extension of social distancing measures, and special quarantine measures for the Lunar New Year holiday, the city finally decided to provide its own disaster relief funds.

Mayor Kang said, "We originally planned to quickly provide the funds before the Lunar New Year holiday to offer warm comfort and support to citizens, but we ask for understanding that the payment timing has been somewhat delayed due to the COVID-19 quarantine situation," and added, "We will focus on minimizing inconvenience to citizens and promptly establish detailed implementation plans with the city council."

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