Jeong Myeong-geun, Hwaseong Mayor, "Increase in Social Welfare Budget Despite Difficult Conditions"

City Council Regular Session Policy Speech Declares
"Not a Single Penny of the Budget Will Be Wasted"

"We have boldly reduced unnecessary and non-essential budgets to increase social welfare spending." Jeong Myeong-geun, Mayor of Hwaseong, announced that despite next year's tight fiscal policy, the welfare budget will be increased.

On the 15th, during the 2nd regular session of the 226th Hwaseong City Council, Mayor Jeong stated, "As we enter the era of a population of one million, we will make Hwaseong a special city worthy of its status and improve the quality of life for our citizens," adding, "We will overcome the crisis of the low-growth era and move toward becoming 'the best city where everyone wants to live.'"

Jung Myung-geun, mayor of Hwaseong City, is delivering a municipal administration speech at the city council on the 15th. [Photo by Hwaseong City]

Mayor Jeong presented four key directions for the 2024 city administration: ▲ citizen-centered balanced development ▲ sustainable economic growth ▲ regionally specialized cultural tourism ▲ warm and hopeful welfare. To achieve these, detailed plans include ▲ preparation for the one-million special city status ▲ establishment of development strategies tailored to regional characteristics ▲ innovation in advanced transportation and creation of a metropolitan transportation network ▲ attracting investments worth 20 trillion won ▲ commencement of the Technopol pilot district project ▲ promotion of the Botanic Garden Hwaseong ▲ final hosting of the National Sports Festival ▲ operation of the Financial Welfare Counseling Support Center.

Mayor Jeong said, "In the challenging situation where Hwaseong's tax revenue is not easy due to the economic downturn, we have boldly reduced unnecessary and non-essential budgets to increase social welfare spending," and added, "Despite difficult fiscal conditions, we will prioritize citizens above all in budget allocation."

The total scale of the 2024 budget proposal submitted by Hwaseong City to the City Council is 3.185 trillion won, an increase of 61.8 billion won compared to the 2023 original budget. Local tax revenue is expected to decrease by 265.7 billion won from 2023 to 1.274 trillion won.

Mayor Jeong added, "We will ensure that not a single won is wasted," and "As a partner of the City Council, we will actively cooperate in legislative activities and make every effort to thoroughly promote all projects."

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