Gwangju City Proposes "Welfare Budget Sharing"... Five Districts 'Reject'

Gwangju City Hall exterior view.

The five autonomous districts of Gwangju have rejected the city's proposal to share the budget for welfare-related projects among each district, citing financial difficulties.

On September 17, the five districts held a meeting of district mayors and agreed not to accept the proposed adjustment to the city-district cost-sharing ratio for welfare subsidy programs.

This decision was made due to concerns that, in addition to already struggling with limited independent tax revenue, having to share the costs would require an increase in their budgets and financial burden, which could disrupt essential administrative services.

The five districts plan to officially notify Gwangju City on September 18 via an official document that they will not accept the proposed adjustment. However, they have agreed to discuss with the city whether it is possible to share the budget for certain state-funded subsidy programs.

An official from one of the districts in Gwangju stated, "The cost-sharing structure proposed by Gwangju City does not take into account the financial realities of local governments. It is unreasonable to ask the districts to share the budget for policy projects."

Until now, Gwangju City has been covering the costs for 19 welfare projects, including personnel and operating expenses for welfare facilities, as well as elderly and child care. Recently, the city suggested adjusting the city-district budget sharing ratio to 9:1 or 8:2, citing the need for more efficient project implementation.

If this proposal were accepted, the districts would have to increase and bear an additional 8,823,000,000 won, specifically: 2,479,000,000 won for Buk District, 1,919,000,000 won for Gwangsan District, 1,828,000,000 won for Seo District, 1,592,000,000 won for Nam District, and 1,050,000,000 won for Dong District.

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