Sejong Mayor Minho Choi Urges President for Financial Support Reflecting Single-Tier System’s Unique Characteristics

President Jaemyung Lee Orders Relevant Ministries to Review the Proposal

Minho Choi, Mayor of Sejong City, urged reasonable and realistic financial support at the Central-Local Cooperation Meeting held at the Presidential Office on the 12th.

"For Sejong City, which was established to realize the national vision of strengthening national competitiveness and balanced regional development, a general grant system tailored to its unique characteristics is necessary."

On November 12, at the Central-Local Cooperation Meeting held at the Liberty Hall of the Presidential Office in Yongsan, Minho Choi, Mayor of Sejong City, strongly urged for expanded financial support that reflects the unique single-tier administrative structure of Sejong, in order to complete the administrative capital project.

The meeting was attended by President Jaemyung Lee, Prime Minister Minseok Kim, ministers and vice ministers from relevant ministries such as the Ministry of Economy and Finance and the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, governors from all 17 cities and provinces nationwide, and the Chairperson of the Local Era Committee, among others.

Mayor Choi participated as a panelist in the finance-related session, where he called on the government to establish a roadmap for expanding local government finances and advocated for increased general grant support that reflects the unique status of Sejong as the administrative capital.

He pointed out, "Although Sejong City operates under a single-tier system that combines both metropolitan and basic administrative functions, it currently receives support for only 5 out of 16 basic grant items, in addition to the metropolitan grant, when calculating the general grant. This means that financial support is significantly insufficient compared to other regions."

He further explained that, although Sejong City was constructed as part of a national plan, the city is now responsible for taking over and operating a large number of public facilities. The enormous maintenance and management costs are being borne entirely by the city's finances, which is intensifying the pressure on its financial operations.

Currently, the maintenance and management costs for facilities transferred to Sejong City from the government amount to approximately 120 billion won this year. This figure is expected to rise to around 200 billion won by 2030.

In particular, the city's available financial resources are gradually decreasing due to a reduction in revenue streams such as acquisition tax, which has resulted from the city's transition to the completion stage. The per capita expenditure budget for Sejong City stands at 5.07 million won, which is only about 60% of the national average of 8.87 million won, further exacerbating the financial pressure.

Compared to Jeju Island, which also operates under a single-tier system and has a per capita expenditure budget of 11.3 million won, Sejong City's figure is less than half.

Mayor Choi stated, "Jeju Island, which has adopted the same single-tier system as Sejong City, receives a fixed percentage of the total general grant, enabling stable financial management. Therefore, fundamental institutional support is needed, such as improving the calculation method for Sejong City's general grant or introducing a fixed-percentage system." In response to Mayor Choi's proposal, President Jaemyung Lee instructed the relevant ministries to review the matter.

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