Gimpo City Regrets Citizen Communication Supplementary Budget Cut Directly Affecting Livelihood Without Alternatives

All Publicity Budget Cut in First Supplementary Budget... Citizens' Right to Know Blocked
Entire Publicity Supplementary Budget Directly Tied to Livelihoods Slashed
Promotion Disrupted for Book City, Gimpo Citizens' Day, Hangang Marathon, and More
City Official: "Council Must Propose Alternatives and Take Responsibility for Livelihoods and Communication"

Gimpo City, Gyeonggi Province (Mayor Kim Byung-su) expressed deep regret on the 20th over the Gimpo City Council's complete cut of the first supplementary budget proposal for citizen communication. Despite Gimpo City's appeal for the urgency and direct impact on people's livelihoods of the publicity budget, the supplementary budget was cut following the main budget reduction.

Gimpo City Hall exterior. Provided by Gimpo City

In particular, the budget prepared by the Public Relations Planning Officer, which corresponds to the entire city's publicity budget, consists of basic expenses for managing the city's owned channels and facilities. This budget should have been included in the main budget but was cut again in the first supplementary budget without any reasonable justification. As a result, Gimpo Maru, which has a citizen satisfaction rate of 99%, has been left adrift from the planning stage, and the Kakao Channel, the most preferred by citizens, continues to be suspended.

Despite the heated competition with other cities to attract the title of '2025 Republic of Korea Book City,' nationwide promotion is urgent, yet there is no budget even to produce promotional videos. Moreover, communication for major events and festivals that citizens should enjoy, such as Gimpo Citizens' Day, Hangang Marathon, and Aramarin Festival, has become impossible to promote in a trendy and highly reachable way beyond press releases and posts on the city's owned SNS channels.

Upon hearing the news of the main budget cut, citizens responded, "Only Gimpo City is going against the times, which is incomprehensible." Although Gimpo City conveyed these citizens' opinions, the City Council dismissed them by saying it was consistent with the main budget approval deliberation and cut the publicity budget.

A Gimpo City official said, "Citizen communication is a budget directly linked to people's livelihoods, and despite appealing for urgency, it was cut, which is regrettable. We hope the council takes responsibility for their choice and proposes alternatives for citizen communication." He added, "The city will continue to make supplementary budget requests while doing its best under the given conditions for the citizens, even if difficulties follow."

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