Yangcheon-gu Wins Excellence Award at Local Autonomy Management Competition for 'Airport Noise Area Property Tax Reduction Policy'

Comprehensive Support Center for Airport Noise Measures and Hearing Precision Tests to Promote Resident Support Policies

Commemorative photo of winning the Excellence Award at the 20th Korea Local Autonomy Management Competition. Provided by Yangcheon-gu.

Yangcheon-gu, Seoul (Mayor Lee Gijae) announced on the 4th that it received the Minister of the Interior and Safety Award (Excellence Award) for outstanding evaluation at the 20th Korea Local Autonomy Management Competition hosted by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety.

The Korea Local Autonomy Management Competition has been held annually since 2004 by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety to select and award institutions that have achieved excellent results by soliciting policies promoted by local governments and public institutions nationwide, and to share best practices. It is the most prestigious competition of its kind.

The district received this award in recognition of its contribution to price stabilization by being the first basic local government nationwide to implement property tax reductions in airport noise countermeasure areas, thereby lowering housing costs for owners and ultimately alleviating the housing burden of low-income vulnerable groups.

Yangcheon-gu, adjacent to Gimpo Airport, suffers aircraft noise damage in 11 out of its 18 administrative neighborhoods. As of October last year, the affected households totaled 40,030. This accounts for more than half (51.3%) of all affected households within the Gimpo Airport noise countermeasure area, highlighting the need for substantial support expansion for residents.

In response, the district not only demanded improvement measures from the government but also took steps to establish its own practical compensation measures. For the first time among basic local governments nationwide, it amended the "Yangcheon-gu Local Tax Reduction Ordinance" and has been reducing property tax by up to 60% for residents owning one house per household within the airport noise countermeasure area designated by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport since July last year. This is the maximum reduction rate the district can apply, and 22,000 households benefited from a total reduction of 1.88 billion KRW last year.

In addition, the district has established a district-operated Comprehensive Support Center for Airport Noise Countermeasures, provided support for precise hearing tests and hearing aid purchases, counseling services for stress relief, built the nation’s first independent airport noise monitoring system, and offered the metropolitan area’s first Gimpo Airport usage fee support, implementing systematic and comprehensive support policies for residents in airport noise countermeasure areas.

Mayor Lee Gijae said, “The purpose of the property tax reduction policy was to provide small compensation at the district level for residents’ suffering, and I am pleased that various efforts for this have borne good results.”

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