Mayor Lee Dong-hwan "City Council Cuts 16.1 Billion Won from Supplementary Budget... Condemns Neglect of Public Welfare"

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Lee Dong-hwan, Mayor of Goyang Special City, held an emergency press conference on the 31st to directly criticize the budget cuts made by the Goyang City Council, including the supplementary budget.

On the 31st, Lee Dong-hwan, Mayor of Goyang Special City, held an emergency press conference and directly criticized the budget cuts by the Goyang City Council, including the supplementary budget. Photo by Lee Jong-gu

The mayor expressed strong regret, saying, “Hundreds of billions of won worth of livelihood and economic projects are being indiscriminately cut almost every session just because they are labeled as ‘mayor’s interest budgets.’ This is an irrational decision that ignores citizens and obstructs urban development.”

At the 292nd Goyang City Council extraordinary session, about 16.1 billion won was cut from the first supplementary budget proposal for 2025 submitted by Goyang City. The cuts included 47 major projects such as the establishment of a public arboretum and public museum, development plans for the Wondang Station area, activation of the KINTEX support site, Changneungcheon rainwater storage facility, and the creation of a book caf? in Ilsan Lake Park.

Many of these are ‘regularly cut projects’ that have been repeatedly reduced three to seven times. Moreover, key projects essential for Goyang City’s long-term development and infrastructure expansion were also cut, drawing criticism that these cuts are hampering overall city administration.

Core urban planning projects such as the city master plan and public design promotion plan, which had been repeatedly cut, were barely included in the budget, but the city master plan and road construction management plan were significantly reduced, making actual implementation inevitably difficult.

In particular, the mayor strongly criticized the AI and IT-based ‘hub-type smart city project’ as a representative example.

He pointed out, “The smart city project, which will dramatically improve citizens’ quality of life through 24-hour civil service, traffic flow optimization, disaster prevention, drone patrols, and autonomous buses, is not just budget consumption but an innovative investment in the city. Even though the government supports half of the approximately 40 billion won budget, the city council repeatedly cuts the city’s share without fully allocating it.”

On the 31st, Lee Dong-hwan, Mayor of Goyang Special City, held an emergency press conference and directly criticized the budget cuts by the Goyang City Council, including the supplementary budget. Photo by Lee Jong-gu

This project was selected by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport after Goyang City competed with local governments nationwide. However, the project itself is now unstable due to the city council’s cuts. The mayor strongly questioned, “Other local governments want to do this project but cannot due to lack of budget, yet the Goyang City Council is saying we shouldn’t do it ourselves. Is this a decision for the citizens?”

The budget for supporting small and medium-sized enterprises was also cut. Goyang City planned to support companies participating in CES (the world’s largest IT and consumer electronics exhibition) to help expand exports of local SMEs, but the related budget was entirely cut. The mayor raised his voice, saying, “This is a decision that blocks growth opportunities and neglects the future of promising local companies.”

The culture and tourism sectors were also hit hard. Goyang City has been attracting performances by global artists such as Coldplay, Oasis, and G-Dragon (GD) using the Goyang Sports Complex. However, the budget to link audiences to local businesses and tourist sites was cut, putting the core purpose of ‘revitalizing the local economy’ through these performances at risk. Budgets for various promotional media were also drastically reduced.

The welfare sector was no exception. Labor costs for the senior citizens’ association and artists’ creative spaces (Haeum and Saedeul) were cut, raising concerns about the stability of on-site operations. The mayor criticized this as “a decision that directly infringes on the rights of the elderly and the creative activities of artists.”

Especially, the ordinance to establish the ‘Goyang Citizens Welfare Foundation,’ a key pledge of Mayor Lee Dong-hwan that has been prepared for two and a half years, was rejected due to reasons such as ‘lack of preparation.’

Goyang City has the highest number of welfare recipients in Gyeonggi Province, and the existing government office structure cannot handle the rapidly increasing demand, so the city has been pushing to establish a welfare foundation. The mayor criticized, “Rejecting the ordinance, which is just the first step, due to lack of preparation is illogical. Blocking the start just because it’s not perfect is merely an excuse.” The project has already secured the consent of Gyeonggi Province and over 72% approval from citizens.

The mayor pointed out that the repeated budget cuts pose three serious problems that directly affect city administration beyond mere conflict.

First, the irresponsible method of cutting budgets repeatedly without clear grounds or alternatives. Second, the cuts to economic revitalization and infrastructure investment projects could weaken the city’s competitiveness in the long term.

Third, the continuous cuts or delays in budgets related to future urban design, including the city master plan, are slowing down the pace of urban development itself. In fact, the budget for the city master plan reestablishment project has been cut four times over more than a year, and this supplementary budget returned as a ‘half-budget.’ This plan is closely linked to the redevelopment of the first-generation new town, raising concerns that budget shortfalls could negatively impact Goyang City’s mid- to long-term urban strategy.

Mayor Lee Dong-hwan warned, “Continuous reckless budget cuts are like turning off the engine of the train called Goyang City. Once a train stops, it takes two to three times longer to start moving again.”

He also appealed for cooperation, saying, “A cart cannot move forward if its two wheels turn in different directions. I hope the city council will now look at the citizens, not politics, and become the driving force of Goyang City for the remaining year.”

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