Mayor Baek Younghyeon: "Sound Fiscal Management... Laying the Foundation for Livelihood Recovery and Future Growth"

Pocheon City Actively Secures External Funding, Including National and Provincial Government Subsidies

On September 18, Pocheon City in Gyeonggi Province (Mayor Baek Younghyeon) announced that it is making bold investments in key areas directly related to citizens' daily lives by actively securing external funding such as national and provincial government subsidies. The city emphasized that it is doing its utmost to restore livelihoods and realize citizen happiness by utilizing these resources effectively.

Pocheon City Hall exterior. Provided by Pocheon City

Recently, the city finalized its third supplementary budget for 2025, increasing the budget by 106.7 billion won. The supplementary budget focuses on stabilizing citizens' lives and laying the foundation for future growth, with intensive investments such as 41.7 billion won for enhancing safety infrastructure including rivers, roads, sewage systems, and parking lots; 4.4 billion won for livelihood support projects; and 23.9 billion won for consumer coupon support to aid economic recovery.

The notable aspect of this supplementary budget is fiscal soundness. Based on the third supplementary budget, Pocheon City's fiscal independence ratio stands at 14.6%, and its fiscal self-reliance ratio at 46.1%. By securing a significantly larger amount of grants and national/provincial subsidies compared to local tax and other self-generated revenues, the city has expanded its fiscal management capacity.

For the general account, the third supplementary budget for 2025 is set at 1.4234 trillion won, an increase of 377.7 billion won from the original budget. Of this, self-generated revenues such as local taxes rose slightly from 204.9 billion won to 208.1 billion won. However, grants and subsidies increased significantly from 347 billion won to 449 billion won, and national/provincial government subsidies jumped from 362.1 billion won to 440 billion won.

Pocheon City continues to maintain zero local government debt, upholding a sound fiscal policy. This is a much more stable structure compared to the average debt of over 20 billion won among municipalities of similar size.

In particular, the city has achieved outstanding results in competitive government-funded projects, securing large-scale national funding such as 31.8 billion won for the Comprehensive Maintenance Project for Flood-Prone Living Zones, 21.8 billion won for various projects including school complex facilities, and 10.2 billion won for special situation area development projects. In addition, the city is working to secure more than 50 billion won in new national and provincial government projects by the end of this year.

Mayor Baek Younghyeon stated, "Pocheon's fiscal self-reliance and 'zero debt' are the results of actively securing external resources and pursuing strategic investments. Although we are facing significant challenges due to consecutive disasters and economic downturns, through this supplementary budget, we will lay the groundwork for economic recovery and future growth while maintaining sound finances and continuing necessary investments."

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